If less radical in shape and form than earlier Jacques Rivette pictures, like 1974's Celine and Julie Go Boating or 1971's monumental Out 1, 1998's Secret Defense (Top Secret) is still unusual compared to most crime thrillers.
As it begins, Sylvie's life is calm and methodical. The 30-year-old research scientist (La Cérémonie's Sandrine Bonnaire), who has been working on a cancer vaccine, occupies a spacious Parisian apartment and has been seeing a coworker (nothing serious). Five years before, her father, who worked in the missile defense industry, died from an accidental fall at a train station. One night, her wild-eyed brother, Paul (Nénette et Boni's Grégoire Colin), appears to claim it was murder and that he intends to take his revenge on the culprit, their father's partner, Walser (Man of Iron's Jerzy Radziwilowicz).
For proof, Paul shows Sylvie a photo depicting Walser on the station platform moments before their father fell to the tracks. She isn't convinced and doesn't want him to do anything rash, so she takes the gun and tries to forget the whole thing, but he's opened up a hornet's nest that will involve their mother, Genevieve (Madame Claude's Françoise Fabian), Walser's assistant/lover, Véronique (Laure Marsac), and their late sister Elizabeth, who suddenly, mysteriously committed suicide at 14.
As revelations accumulate, Sylvie changes her mind, leading to a long train trip--the film is filled with trains—to Walser's palatial country estate to confront him. From that point forward, nothing goes as planned. Walser denies responsibility, but the gun goes off, and an innocent party pays the price. Once Walser disposes of the body, he and Sylvie become linked in an entirely different way, causing her to pivot from anger to understanding. By the end, she doesn't just find out how her father died, but how his death relates to Elizabeth's suicide. Though she gets her answers, Secret Defense is ultimately a tragedy.
By drawing inspiration from Hitchcock and Lang, Rivette takes a coolly, methodical approach that withholds judgment, though the ending suggests that it's either better to live with ambiguity or that Sylvie should have hired a professional, like a private investigator, rather than risking her life and the lives of others, like Véronique's lookalike sister, Ludivine (also played by Marsac), who materializes after Véro disappears. Sylvie's sleuthing and hers combine in the most treacherous of ways.
The entire cast rises to the occasion, particularly Bonnaire, who was on a roll in the 1990s, though the fatalistic tone rarely lifts. Fortunately, the elegant cinematography from longtime Rivette associate William Lubtchansky (Duelle, La Belle Noiseuse) elevates the scenario, and the storytelling is always gripping, if possibly more attenuated than necessary—hardly a surprise from a filmmaker renowned for expansive run times. If Secret Defense isn't as essential as Rivette's previous work, it has him trying new moves on the cusp of 70. The nouvelle vague icon would direct four more features before his death at 87 in 2010.
What kind of film series would this narrative fit in?
Secret Defense would fit with a series on contemporary French cinema, unconventional murder mysteries, and the work of director Jacques Rivette and actress Sandrine Bonnaire, who has also directed three features of her own, including 2007's Her Name is Sabine, a well-regarded documentary about her autistic sister.
What kind of film collection would this title be suitable for?
Secret Defense would be suitable for French-language, drama, and thriller collections in academic and public libraries.
What type of library programming could use this title?
Secret Defense would fit with library programming on Jacques Rivette, particularly his filmography of the 1990s, like La Belle Noiseuse and Up, Down, Fragile. It's one of his less experimental and more accessible films.