The Secrets We Keep

The Secrets We Keep

Cast: Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman, Chris Messina, Amy Seimetz
Directed by Yuval Adler
Written by Ryan Covington and Yuval Adler
97 minutes

In a small U.S. town, far from the horrors of the Nazi labor camp where Maja (Noomi Rapace) was held with other Romani prisoners, she and her American husband Lewis (Chris Messina) have built a cozy life. But as she runs errands along the main street of her small town, Maja glimpses a stranger (Joel Kinnaman) whistling a nightmarishly familiar tune. Spiraling back to a night she has tried to forget, she fears he is the German soldier named Karl who brutalized her and murdered her younger sister. But after 15 years, can she be sure? Fearful that her tragic past has come back to haunt her, she begins to stalk the man, hoping to convince herself she is wrong.

Deciding that it's him, she kidnaps him, knocking him unconscious and locking him in the trunk of her car. After driving him to her home, she insists that her husband help her interrogate the man. Begging for his life, the prisoner swears she has the wrong man, claiming his name is Thomas and he spent the entire war in Switzerland. Over the next several days, Lewis watches in horror as Maja torments her captive, only offering to release him if he confesses. Meanwhile, the man's wife (Amy Seimetz) presses the police to launch a manhunt for her missing husband, putting pressure on Maja and Lewis to bring the situation to an uncertain conclusion.

Rapace, who shot to international stardom in the title role of the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, delivers a searing performance as Maja, a survivor torn between revenge and reconciliation. At once a gripping thriller and a thought-provoking examination of the aftermath of violence, The Secrets We Keep asks whether revenge can heal tragedy and if solace is ever possible.

3The Secrets We Keep is directed by Yuval Adler (Bethlehem, The Operative) from a screenplay by Ryan Covington (Wanda the Wonderful, Bula's Fortune) and Adler. It stars Noomi Rapace (Prometheus, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Joel Kinnaman ("The Killing," "Hanna"), Chris Messina ("The Mindy Project," Argo) and Amy Seimetz (Upstream Color, Pet Sematary). The film is produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Side Effects, Salt), Erik Howsam (Only The Brave, Shooter), Adam Riback (Internet Famous, Paranoia), Greg Shapiro (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) and Stuart Ford (Hacksaw Ridge, Silence). The director of photography is Kolja Brandt (Hector and the Search for Happiness, North Face). Production designer is Nate Jones ("Better Things," Pitch Perfect 2). The film is edited by Richard Mettler (Anthropoid, Metro Manila). Costume designer is Christina Flannery (Semper Fi, Them That Follow). Music is composed by John Paesano (The Maze Runner, "The Defenders").

The executive producers are Noomi Rapace, Miguel A. Palos Jr. (Midway, The Professor), Greg Clark (First Reformed, The Chaperone), Victoria Hill (First Reformed, Macbeth), Ben Ross (Roman J. Israel, Esq., Benji), Andrea Scarso (Judy, Adrift), Jamie Jessop (Calibre, Habaneros) and Marco Henry (Semper Fi, Brawl in Cell Block 99).

The Secrets We Keep

In Cinemas 17 Sept, Rent 21 October