THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES
/
2009
DIRECTOR: Juan José Campanella
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Félix Monti
WRITER: Eduardo Sacheri & Juan José Campanella (screenplay)/Eduardo Sacheri (novel)
BUDGET: $2,000,000
GROSS: $42,629,597(worldwide)
The film takes place in Buenos Aires in 1999 as retired Argentinian federal justice agent Benjamín Espósito is writing a novel, using an old closed case as the source material. The case happened 25 years ago and it’s one that he has never been able to forget. The film cuts back and forth between present day (1999) and the mid-70s as events unfolded.
While the case is at the heart of the film, this isn't a whodunit. In fact, the mystery of the crime isn't that complicated nor is it the focus of the movie. Really it’s the crimes effect on the characters that matters here. From Esposito to his friend Sandoval, their boss Irene (who he has been in love with for 25 years) and the victims husband.
It was interesting, because it doesn't take them that long to figure out who actually committed the horrific crime. And as I watched, part of me wondered what the rest of the film was going to be about once they caught the guy. How would they drag out the rest of the film and what would be the point? Well, the point was these characters, their relationships to each other and their search for some kind of truth and justice. There’s no dragging here. And the film is so wonderfully put together.
From a pure technical view point the direction and editing are brilliant. The way Campanella made many of the transitions between the scenes from the 70s and 1999 was sublime. The great direction and editing brought to mind another film that also does the back-and-forth many years apart thing so well. The French Canadian film Le Confessional from director Robert Lepage.
Juan Jose Campanella co-wrote, directed and edited The Secret In Their Eyes and he obviously had a strong vision (no pun intended) for this film - which he beautifully managed to capture, in what has been presented to us up on the screen.