Director Nesher has a way of reducing each confrontation to its two-dimensional essence, and he’s not helped by a swampy, sentimental musical score.
Comment
04/10/09
The Secrets (2008)
71
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:14
Fresh:10
Rotten:4
Average Rating:6.8/10
Synopsis: Naomi, the brilliant and pious daughter of an ultra orthodox rabbi finds herself at a crossroads of life choices when her mother dies and she is expected to immediately marry her father's prodigy.... [More]
Reviews for The Secrets
1 - 14 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Restrained direction and the cast's strong, disciplined performances keep it from falling into soap-opera territory.
03/13/09
The Secrets twines coming-out, coming-of-age and coming-to-terms-with-Orthodoxy in a way that diminishes all three -- and dilutes its message with clichés.
03/13/09
There is pain and empowerment in The Secrets as difficult choices are made. There are also gaps, but emotionally moving performances by Ardant, Bukstein and Shtamler in particular, keep you with this small but provocative film until the end.
03/13/09
Top CriticIn some ways, it is a traditional narrative. But it is more. It is gently and powerfully acted.
02/26/09
Top CriticThe Secrets belongs in a mini-tradition of involving films that limn the border where spiritual and sexual awakenings collide and entwine.
02/13/09
Each of the three primary directions of the movie might make a fascinating film, but tied together, they never cohere, and you find yourself sitting through two long hours wondering why you are doing so.
02/12/09
Even with rote characterizations and an overheated lesbian subplot, this religion-steeped Israeli tale is entertaining, eye-opening, even cautiously sexy.
01/09/09
For a film with an aim as ambitious and illusive as the depiction of the spiritual, The Secrets has a surprisingly light touch.
12/05/08
Although overlong by about 20 minutes, The Secrets mostly handles its subject matter with grace and charm; its heroine's proud defiance even mitigates a questionably celebratory conclusion.
11/26/08
The passionate performances of Ms. Bukstein, Ms. Shtamler and Ms. Ardant lend The Secrets enough emotional solidity to prevent it from entirely dissolving in the suds.
11/26/08
Top CriticOne of the most remarkable movies of the year.
11/19/08
The Kabbalah meets the Kinsey Reports, in this Madonna style mystical erotic brew. And a somewhat biased male take on thwarted female desires, along with simmering same sex homoerotic religious expressive tendencies.
11/16/08
Excessively overwrought and drawn out.
10/18/08
Top Critic1 - 14 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Latest News for The Secrets
May 03, 2009:
The Kabbalah meets the Kinsey Reports, in this Madonna style mystical erotic brew. And a somewhat biased male take on thwarted female desires, along with simmering same sex homoerotic religious expressive tendencies. 
More...
November 27, 2008:
Movies-Box Office News: The Kabbalah meets the Kinsey Reports, in this Madonna style mystical erotic brew. And a somewhat biased male take on thwarted female desires, along with simmering same sex homoerotic religious expressive tendencies.
More...
November 03, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review
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