George

A Woman’s Secret has a similar structure to Casablanca (1942) but fails at its second act. The opening is strong, the conflict between Susan and Marian suggests that this film will be a drama, noir or thriller. However, the crime(?) is messy; the performances are unconvincing and when the detectives arrive we get a mild genre shift. It embraces comedic elements surrounding an otherwise serious scene. For example, someone states “this is a matter of life or death, probably death”. Therefore, the film loses its darker tone, and direction, possibly because of poor studio choices. The second act is too boring to talk about, I lowkey zoned out tbf The resolution could’ve been great but it’s far too messy to succeed. The majority of the film is based around flashbacks (like La Verite), so I was expecting an amazing conclusion. Yet, the actors give such unenthusiastic performances and the story felt rushed. This film had so much potential but ends up being too safe and generic for a good mystery.