BEFORE: After I settled back in at home, post-Thanksgiving trip, I took a stab at making some kind of movie plan for January, but so far, it's a no-go. I've made two attempts, starting where I want to start, to see if I could build a chain to February 1, I even marked all the films that are two links away from the proposed start of the romance chain, and it's not that I can't find a path, the problem is there are too many paths. I'd love to start the year with "Nomadland", but the only real place I can go from there is "The French Dispatch", and that's a film loaded with actors, right away there are too many branches for me to pick one and see where it goes. There are at least 13 possible paths leading out of that film, then that number probably doubles or triples by the time I'm at movie #5 for the year.
Another problem, that film links to "Dune", and then "Dune" links to the start of the romance chain, at the end of the month. That won't do at all, then I'd only watch 5 or 6 movies in January, and that's not enough. I think what I'm going to have to do is set some signpost films in-between, like "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and "Shang-Chi", I know I can link to those films, but I'm not sure where to go next. (The new "Spider-Man" film also links to "Dune", do you see my problem? Everything leads me to the end of the month too quickly...)
I hope to have some time after Christmas to figure all this out, because I suddenly have NO time. I'll explain below. Elizabeth Olsen carries over from "Ingrid Goes West".
THE PLOT: Thérèse grows up with her aunt and cousin - around 1860 the aunt decides they should move to Paris and that her son and Thérèse get married. The joyless and loveless life changes when her husband brings a friend home. The affair turns ugly for all.
AFTER: I swear, I thought I was on top of things, I even crammed a few more movies into November then I originally planned to - I was going to only watch 17 this month, and save the last 17 for December, but I watched 20 in November instead. And now I'm staring Christmas down, and I'm running out of time. The movies, no problem, I can watch 14 movies before Christmas, that's easy. But I haven't bought any holiday gifts yet, and my family's probably going to expect them this year, after we basically called a pandemic mulligan on gifts and getting together, last year my wife and I just stayed home and we made lasagna. I've got to get Christmas cards out, because last year the mail was slow and some of mine arrived late, and then my holiday mix CD is pretty useless if it arrives after Dec. 25. I was going to go all virtual this year, just send everybody a link to the songs on Dropbox, and send my older aunts instructions on how to ask their kids for help downloading. But now I can't get Dropbox to work right, I uploaded the films and created a link to share the folder, however I tested it at the office and the link won't work. It only takes you to a Dropbox sign-in screen, and some family members probably don't have a Dropbox account, so that may not work. If I can't find another solution, then I'm back to burning CDs and mailing them out, and if I need to do that, I'm already late. Making the CDs, labelling them, getting padded mailers, addressing those - it's a lot of work.
Tomorrow I'll take another stab at getting the Dropbox link to work correctly, because if I could do that, then I just have to send out cards with the download instructions, and that will be a lot easier, cheaper and faster. I'll save money by not buying more blank CDs (maybe I'll make one or two for myself and any Luddite friends) and also reduce waste - honestly, I don't know how many friends listen to the CDs and how many just throw them away because they don't dig holiday music.
Anyway, I don't have a lot to say about "In Secret", because it feels a lot like a throwaway film. It's based on an 1867 novel by Emile Zola, called "Therese Raquin", and honestly, I don't know much about Emile Zola. Was he any good? I can't name you one other novel that he wrote, so I have no idea. I guess he was like the French O. Henry, because this whole story is just dripping in irony. But this story also feels kind of Shakespearean, sort of that whole Romeo & what's-her-name, star-crossed lovers and all that. Then throw in some Edgar Allen Poe, because there's a bit here that reminds me of "The Tell-Tale Heart", and well, I guess that's Emile Zola for you.
Still, I can't see myself even remembering this movie six months from now, it's so basic and run-of-the-mill, if I'm being honest - and why wouldn't I be? It's about an affair, one that ends badly, like, do any of them in literature end WELL? The "sinners" need to pay a price for their sins, and the illicit lovers here take things a step further when they come to believe that the only way they'll be happy is by taking Therese's husband, Camille, out of the picture. Yes, I know Camille sounds like a woman's name, but it's a man's name here - he's French. Everybody's French, but they all talk English here so we Americans can understand them. Try not to think about that.
To be fair, Therese sort of got railroaded into marrying her cousin, it's not like she had any say in the matter - back in the 1860's very few European women had any say in running their own lives, this was back when wives were considered property, I guess. Jeez, I thought France near the start of the Industrial Revolution might have been a little more liberal and forward-thinking, but I guess not. So Therese is married to her cousin and her aunt also becomes her mother-in-law before she can even raise any kind of objection. She also has to work in the shop that her aunt/mother-in-law buys, she's got no choice there, either. Before long she's pretending to be sick nearly every day, because that gives her more time to mope around and hate her situation, while her husband relieves the pressure of his clerking job by going to the zoo every day and watching the bears.
One fateful night, Camille brings home Laurent, a fellow clerk who comes from the same town, they apparently knew each other as teens in school, but lost touch somewhere along the way. Therese hates Laurent at first, but as he hangs around more and more, telling stories about being an artist and seducing young models, she finds herself fantasizing about him, being one of his models, and, well, one thing leads to another and she starts getting everything from Laurent that her husband/cousin won't give her, if you catch my meaning.
After they hatch their plan to get Camille out of the way, they allow a certain amount of time to pass, respectfully appearing to grow closer together out of shared grief. Everyone else suggests that they get married, and they then pretend like that wasn't their plan all along. However, they soon find out that while they made excellent lovers in secret, being married to each other is a whole different situation. It's like something is missing - ah, it was probably the forbidden nature of their relationship that made it so enticing in the first place. It felt so wrong, but so right at the same time, and then when they're allowed to be together, it's no fun any more. Hey, life is like that sometimes, you want something and then when you get it, it's not all it's cracked up to be, and you start wanting something, or someone, else.
They're still obligated to take care of Camille's mother (and Therese's aunt/mother-in-law) even though she's been wracked with grief over the loss of her son, and then she starts acting crazy, or senile, or both. (EDIT: Ah, I guess she had a stroke?) And they can't really kill her, they're already feeling guilty about the first murder. But it's driving a wedge between the two lovers, who have already realized that their relationship is fading, because it was only fun when it was an illicit affair. I guess this could be a warning to anyone out there cheating on their spouse, that killing or dumping your spouse and marrying the girlfriend or boyfriend isn't necessarily the best solution. True happiness and contentment lie within, and if you don't have it as a married person, then changing partners may not solve the problem. It was true in 1860 and it's probably still true today, but as always, your mileage may vary. Caveat emptor and all that.
Also starring Oscar Isaac (last seen in "Life Itself"), Tom Felton (last seen in "The Borrowers" (1997)), Jessica Lange (last seen in "The Gambler"), Shirley Henderson (last seen in "Filth"), Matt Lucas (last heard in "Missing Link"), Mackenzie Crook (last seen in "City of Ember"), John Kavanagh (last seen in "Florence Foster Jenkins"), Lily Laight, Matt Devere (last seen in "Terminator: Dark Fate"), Dimitrije Bogdanov, Richard Sharkey, Nicholas Blane (last seen in "Hope Gap"), Jo Korer.
RATING: 4 out of 10 games of dominoes
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