"Secrets" movie little more than a cultural study

Kara Kiehle
kkiehle@mscd.edu

Take the basic plot of an 80’s slasher movie involving a group of girls where there’s ongoing sexual tension, gossip about a murderer on the loose and then eliminate the follow-through. And that’s Secrets, a drama out of Israel from director Avi Nesher.

Although the aim of the film is clearly feminist, the film simply plops the same one-dimensional female characters you might find in Cheerleader Camp Massacre Part 5 or Horror Sorority (the bad one, the fat one, the brain, the tattletale and, of course, the butch matron figure) into an all-girl Kabalistic seminary in the holy city of Safed, then forgets about them.

It’s not heroine Naomi’s fault (Ania Bukstein) that her delivery is stony and bland through 96 percent of the movie. Blame the writer for drawing an unengaging character with only one motivation: to be a master of arcane, rabbinic wisdom like her father and her fiancé. She has to be coaxed into any other action by her new BFF, the slightly more daring rich girl Michelle (Michal Shtamler).

Anouk (Fanny Ardant, of 8 Women and Sabrina), a local Christian murderess on her death bed, and her shadowy past is the only injection of hot blood that Secrets gets.

Now Madonna sexed up both Catholicism and Judaism at the turn of the century, but religion has always encouraged rule breaking. Philosopher George Bataille calls religion inherently sexy because prohibition denotes what’s forbidden-- and the forbidden is always more attractive.
But Secrets has an irritating habit of spelling out exactly what these prohibitions are. For example, family is more important than learning the Talmud and God doesn’t like visible unhappiness. This can all be very educational for a non-Jewish person not in the know, but it’s far from entertaining.

Halfway through the movie, the theological-feminist ball is dropped in favor of lukewarm romance. The link between Naomi’s carnal self-discovery and the critique of sexism in religion is tentative, at best. The good news is the love story gives the actors a chance to act, instead of reciting the significance of various, mystical sin-purging rites.

All in all, Secrets merits a watch for its value as a cultural study. The architecture and streets of Safed are particularly interesting. But if you’re looking for romance, action and intrigue, look elsewhere.