"Le Secret," a French movie directed by Robert Enrico, stars Jean Louis Trintignant as a man who has stumbled accidentally upon a state "secret." We never find out exactly what it is, but it is something so awesome and so dangerous that the government first confines him to a mental ward and then hunts him down to eliminate him once he manages to escape. There are some shades of Robert Aldrich's "Kiss Me Deadly" here.
After his escape the man is befriended by Philippe Noiret who plays a character of supernatural goodness reminiscent of his role in "The Clockmaker." Noiret and his less altruistic wife Marlène Jobert harbor and protect the man while they wonder whether he is telling them the truth or is indeed the killer which the authorities say is on the loose. Their uncertainty will cost them dearly.
The movie is weakened by our never knowing what hideous truth the man has uncovered (a sort of unexplicated Hitchcockian 'MacGuffin') and by an overly oblique directorial style from the man who gave us the unforgettable "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." The principals, nevertheless, are uniformly excellent, and the shock ending managed to frighten me a great deal.
After his escape the man is befriended by Philippe Noiret who plays a character of supernatural goodness reminiscent of his role in "The Clockmaker." Noiret and his less altruistic wife Marlène Jobert harbor and protect the man while they wonder whether he is telling them the truth or is indeed the killer which the authorities say is on the loose. Their uncertainty will cost them dearly.
The movie is weakened by our never knowing what hideous truth the man has uncovered (a sort of unexplicated Hitchcockian 'MacGuffin') and by an overly oblique directorial style from the man who gave us the unforgettable "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." The principals, nevertheless, are uniformly excellent, and the shock ending managed to frighten me a great deal.