A Secret

A Secret
Film poster
Directed by	Claude Miller
Written by	Claude Miller
Produced by	Yves Marmion
Starring	Cécile De France Patrick Bruel Ludivine Sagnier Julie Depardieu
Cinematography	Gérard de Battista
Edited by	Véronique Lange
Music by	Zbigniew Preisner
Distributed by	UGC Distribution
Running time	3 September 2007 (2007-09-03) (Montréal World Film Festival) 3 October 2007 (2007-10-03)
Country	France
Language	French
Box office	$14.4 million

A Secret (French: Un secret) is a 2007 French film directed and written by Claude Miller. The screenplay was based on the novel by Philippe Grimbert.

Synopsis

The film follows Maxime Nathan and his Jewish family in France during the years leading up to World War II. François Grimbert (played as a young boy by Valentin Vigourt and as an adult by Mathieu Amalric) grows up in Paris in the 1950s. He is the skinny, sickly son of two marvelously athletic parents, Tania (Cécile de France) and Maxime (Patrick Bruel). For a while, he dreams of a stronger, fitter, more charismatic older brother to compensate for his own feelings of inadequacy. Only gradually does he learn of his parents' tragic past and that he has a sibling — a half-brother named Simon, his father's first son.

Simon is the big secret, but the discovery opens the door to further revelations and deeper enigmas. François knows that his parents met sometime around the war, and he imagines their courtship and marriage in the shadow of atrocities which nobody talks about any more.

Cast

• Cécile De France as Tania Stirn/Grimbert
• Patrick Bruel as Maxime Nathan Grinberg/Grimbert
• Ludivine Sagnier as Hannah Grimbert
• Julie Depardieu as Louise
• Mathieu Amalric as François Grimbert (age 37)
• Eric Godon as Serge Klarsfeld
• Nathalie Boutefeu as Esther
• Yves Verhoeven as Guillaume
• Yves Jacques as Commandant Béraud
• Laurent Lafitte as The cop

Awards and nominations

• César Awards
  • Won: Best Actress – Supporting Role (Julie Depardieu)
  • Nominated: Best Actress – Leading Role (Cécile De France)
  • Nominated: Best Actress – Supporting Role (Ludivine Sagnier)
  • Nominated: Best Cinematography (Gérard de Battista)
  • Nominated: Best Costume Design (Jacqueline Bouchard)
  • Nominated: Best Director (Claude Miller)
  • Nominated: Best Editing (Véronique Lange)
  • Nominated: Best Film
  • Nominated: Best Music Written for a Film (Zbigniew Preisner)
  • Nominated: Best Production Design (Jean-Pierre Kohut-Svelko)
  • Nominated: Best Writing - Adaptation (Nathalie Carter and Claude Miller)
• Montréal Film Festival
  • Won: Grand Prix des Amériques (tied with Ben X)

External links

• A Secret at IMDb