La Femme secrète (1986) - film review

Learning of his wife death’s, Antoine Béraud abandons his work on an experimental submarine in the North Sea and returns to his home in Paris.  He learns that his wife’s body was found in the Seine, pumped with barbiturates.  Unable to accept that his wife could kill herself, Antoine decides to carry out his own investigation.  He quickly discovers that his wife has been leading a double life, having a lesbian love affair and attempting to defraud a bank of millions of francs...

La Femme secrète is a watchable but perhaps disappointingly run-of-the-mill crime drama, having the style, plot and production values of a typical mid 1980s TV crime mystery. Despite an implausible plot and uneven, rambling narrative, the film manages to hold the audience’s attention, mainly because of its bizarre collection of supporting characters.  These include a vitriolic artist (played by the as-ever superb Philippe Noiret), a sadistic financier (Jean-Louis Richard) and a pallid stamp-collector (François Berléand) who moonlights as an accomplice in a daring fraud.

By contrast, the lead characters (played by Jacques Bonnaffé and Clémentine Célarié) are comparatively bland and not at all engaging.  Likewise, Sébastien Grall’s direction, whilst competent, feels just a little too complacent and unimaginative.

© James Travers 2000

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