Run to Ground

By J.C.

Le Secret

Directed by ROBERT ENRICO Screenplay by ROBERT ENRICO and PASCAL JARDIN

It is a good deal easier to hint at terror than to give it substance. Director Robert Enrico takes a very easy route indeed in Le Secret, which has to do with the sweaty anxieties of Jean-Louis Trintignant as he dodges the persistent minions of his fate. Trintignant, imperviously dour, plays a fellow named David who has discovered an inhumane and generally horrendous secret government project and been tossed into prison. So terrible was David's accidental revelation that he can hardly bring himself to talk about it, much less go into all the gory details. His maddeningly mute fear may be a poor substitute for true suspense, but it is all Enrico has to offer.

David escapes from his dank cell and gets out into the countryside. Loaded down with tins of canned goods and an automatic pistol, he starts to make his way to a small mountain cabin which, it turns out, has already been destroyed by a natural disaster. This piece of information is relayed by an ursine eccentric named Thomas (Philippe Noiret) who encounters David in the middle of his trek. Thomas offers David shelter, food and his wife, a pert sculptress named Julia (Marlene Jobert)-- although he reserves the right to act wounded when his guest takes him up on all three. Thomas and Julia are enchanted with David's brooding tales of terror, and they are persuaded of his veracity when grim-looking fellows with guns start hanging around.

This is all fairly standard stuff; the one element that could have made the difference -- a novel, incisive reason for David's fear -- is absent. The only secret here is in the title. Some years back, Robert Enrico made a highly regarded short film of Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. His new film is turned out with the same sort of spare, elliptical edginess, but it lacks the force of Bierce's classic surprise ending.

Le Secret can only build to its own irresolution.

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