“Dark secrets” It starts out as a family drama. A man receives the news of his father’s death and, even though they were estranged, he must attend the wake and take charge of the house. Even before arriving, he makes agreements with a real estate agency and a charity that will take whatever it wants.
Meanwhile, he carefully chooses the suit that will be put on the dead man and discovers how his father treasured the childhood photos where they both loved each other. A neighbor and a friend of the dead man appear with fond memories. But a hidden door behind the small wine cellar also appears in the basement.
That’s where the family drama takes on the tones of a macabre thriller.The protagonist, we know from the beginning, suffers from certain ailments and panic attacks that would affect the heart. His professional success is accompanied by many demands, and threatened by the latent risk of any scandal that could affect him, his fame, and the company that puts him on a pedestal. So what to do with what he found in the basement?
Little by little we are going towards a drama of conscience. What can be revealed, what should not be revealed. In any case, to whom, when, why. And how to continue living with all that burden. Perhaps the texts of Nicholas Evans and Murakami The funeral service host piously recalls this. An excellent scene, where the protagonist shines the most and best. Marc-André Grondin and the veteran Yves Jacques.
This is only the second film of Xavier Legrandthe one of “Shared custody”The script, the staging, the attention to every detail, the skill with which it suggests more than what we see, speak of someone worth taking into account.
Original title, “The successor”. Script inspired by the novel Alexandre Postel “The Ascendancy” (first variant, in the novel the protagonist is a mobile phone salesman and must return to his hometown, and in the film he is a successful fashion designer in Paris and returns to Montreal). Soundtrack by Sebastian Akchotévery effective at the beginning, enriched with fragments of Schumann, Schubert, Brahms, Chopin and, unexpectedly, Antonio Carlos and Jocafi, the “Vocé Abusu” converted into “Fais comme l’oiseau” by Pierre Delanoe, with totally different lyrics and in a version by Fugain & Le Big Band.
To leave the reader with a smile and a different kind of memory: Fugain & The Big Band They are the spirited ones “Attention mesdames et messieurs” that opened the program Alberto Olmedo “He doesn’t press the button”. Old times.
“Dark secrets” (Le succeseur, Canada-France-Belgium, 2023). Dir.: Xavier Legrand. Int.: Marc-André Grondin, Yves Jacques, Laetitia Isambert, Blandine Bury.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
