The Secrets twines coming-out, coming-of-age and coming-to-terms-with-Orthodoxy in a way that diminishes all three -- and dilutes its message with clichés.
The Secrets (2008)
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Reviews Counted:14
Fresh:10
Rotten:4
Average Rating:6.8/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 7 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis:
Naomi, the brilliant and pious daughter of an ultra orthodox rabbi finds herself at a crossroads of life choices when her mother dies and she is expected to immediately marry her father's prodigy....
Naomi, the brilliant and pious daughter of an ultra orthodox rabbi finds herself at a crossroads of life choices when her mother dies and she is expected to immediately marry her father's prodigy. Distressed yet determined, she begs that her father allow her one year to study at a women's religious seminary in Safed, the birthplace of the Kabala in order to prepare herself for the sacrifices she will make as a wife. Her father relents and Naomi's life begins to take an unexpected turn.
Devote but lively, Naomi and her new friend Michelle befriend a beautiful, mysterious older woman, Anouk, (Fanny Ardant) who is ill and living nearby who may or may not be Jewish, and may have committed a crime of passion. Naomi devises a series of rituals which will somehow "purify" Anouk and purge her of her sins, but as these stretch the borders of Jewish law they must be kept secret. Eventually this journeys into the forbidden and leads to a growing attraction between the two girls and more crossroads are faced.
The Secrets presents the complexities of a religious lifestyle in a vibrant environment of youth, rebellion and desire. --© Monterey Media
Starring: Fanny Ardant, Ania Bukstein, Michal Shtamler
Starring: Fanny Ardant, Ania Bukstein, Michal Shtamler
Director: Avi Nesher
Director: Avi Nesher
Producer: David Silber, Avi Nesher
Composer: Daniel Salomon
Studio: Monterrey Media
Reviews for The Secrets
There is pain and empowerment in The Secrets as difficult choices are made. There are also gaps, but emotionally moving performances by Ardant, Bukstein and Shtamler in particular, keep you with this small but provocative film until the end.
Restrained direction and the cast's strong, disciplined performances keep it from falling into soap-opera territory.
Although overlong by about 20 minutes, The Secrets mostly handles its subject matter with grace and charm; its heroine's proud defiance even mitigates a questionably celebratory conclusion.
The Secrets belongs in a mini-tradition of involving films that limn the border where spiritual and sexual awakenings collide and entwine.
Director Nesher has a way of reducing each confrontation to its two-dimensional essence, and he’s not helped by a swampy, sentimental musical score.
The Kabbalah meets the Kinsey Reports, in this Madonna style mystical erotic brew. And a somewhat biased male take on thwarted female desires, along with simmering same sex homoerotic religious expressive tendencies.
Each of the three primary directions of the movie might make a fascinating film, but tied together, they never cohere, and you find yourself sitting through two long hours wondering why you are doing so.
In some ways, it is a traditional narrative. But it is more. It is gently and powerfully acted.
For a film with an aim as ambitious and illusive as the depiction of the spiritual, The Secrets has a surprisingly light touch.
Even with rote characterizations and an overheated lesbian subplot, this religion-steeped Israeli tale is entertaining, eye-opening, even cautiously sexy.
The passionate performances of Ms. Bukstein, Ms. Shtamler and Ms. Ardant lend The Secrets enough emotional solidity to prevent it from entirely dissolving in the suds.
Latest News for The Secrets
May 03, 2009:
The Kabbalah meets the Kinsey Reports, in this Madonna style mystical erotic brew. And a somewhat biased male take on thwarted female desires, along with simmering same sex homoerotic religious expressive tendencies. ![]()
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November 27, 2008:
Movies-Box Office News: The Kabbalah meets the Kinsey Reports, in this Madonna style mystical erotic brew. And a somewhat biased male take on thwarted female desires, along with simmering same sex homoerotic religious expressive tendencies. ![]()
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November 03, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review ![]()
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