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Released by: Image Entertainment
Released on: 8/26/2008
Director: Vincent Perez
Cast: David Duchovny, Lili Taylor, Olivia Thirlby
Year: 2006
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The Movie:
Dr. Benjamin Marris (David Duchovny) and his wife, Hannah (Lili Taylor) move with their daughter, Samantha (Olivia Thirlby) from the metropolis of Boston to the more remote surroundings of Williamstown. Samantha treats her mother shabbily, but when the two of them are in a horrific car crash, the moth, being a typical teenager, doesn't treat her parents particularly well and tends to get into arguments with her mother on a fairly regular basis. That said, Benjamin and Hannah have a rock solid relationship and are obviously still very much in love with one another and despite the fact that they've been married a long time, the spark has not died out.
When Hannah and Samantha get into a car accident, it somehow turns out that Hannah physically dies but Samantha lives… but it seems that something is amiss, maybe a little different than it was before - almost as if Hannah is now living inside her teenage daughter's body! Not only does this force her to have to learn who her daughter really but it also puts her in the odd predicament of having to convince her husband that his beautiful teenage daughter is really his wife.
Directed by French actor Vincent Perez, The Secret benefits from a strong script, a good cast, and some nice direction. It's a solid movie that provides a few unexpected twists along the way and that uses its cast quite well. Duchovny, best known as the stoic Fox Mulder from TV's The X-Files, shows more range here than he ever did on that show and his interplay with both of his female co-stars is believable enough that we can accept it as both legitimate and sincere. Thirlby and Taylor hold their own here as well, each one delivering strong efforts and turning in realistic and noteworthy efforts.
The film does an interesting job of playing around with the various moral dilemmas that exist not only between Benjamin and the reincarnated Hannah but also between the reincarnated Hannah and what's left of what was once Samantha's personal life. The characters are all forced into awkward predicaments where they have to make some rather questionable choices and this not only keeps the movie moving at a good dramatic pace but also manages to provide the audience with some heavy food for thought.
Wrap this strange character heavy piece up in some nice visuals and pepper it with a strong and wholly appropriate soundtrack and you're left with a movie that is not only technically strong but which actually manages to make you think.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The 1080p AVC encoded 2.40.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer on this Blu-ray disc is actually pretty mediocre by high definition standards. While there is more detail and depth than your average SD image, there's some trailing and murkiness evident throughout that is mildly annoying and which obscures a lot more than it should. Color reproduction isn't bad and skin tones look okay but this hardly pops the way good HD transfers do.
Audio options are provided in English DTS-HD 5.1 and SD Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound with optional subtitles available in English SDH and Spanish. This is a fairly dialogue intensive movie so you can't really go into it expecting much in the way of surround activity. Most of what comes out of the rears is ambient and background noise, and periodically, bits of the score. There aren't any major problems with it, but it isn't particularly remarkable either.
First up, as far as the supplements are concerned, is a brief eight minute behind the scenes featurette that is really little more than some basic on set footage presented without much of a context, rendering it fairly useless. Basically, it's footage of director Vincent Perez looking through the camera.
Moving right along, David Duchovny, Lili Taylor and Olivia Thirlby each get their own sit down on camera interview ranging from eight to twelve minutes each. Here they talk about their experiences working on the film and about their characters. These are fairly promotional and don't go into too much detail about the film or its story. A trailer and some animated menus round out the extras.
The Final Word:
The Secret is a decent enough time killer, even if it's unlikely to go down in history as an unsung classic. Perez's direction is solid as are the three main leads and the film has some decent style and some solid suspense. Image's mediocre Blu-ray release, on the other hand, isn't going to win any awards…