Secret Things

Secret Things is a 2002 French erotic drama film written and directed by Jean-Claude Brisseau, starring Coralie Revel and Sabrina Seyvecou. The film is sometimes associated with the New French Extremity. Cahiers du Cinéma named Secret Things, jointly along with Ten by director Abbas Kiarostami, as the best film of 2002. The film was awarded the French Cineaste of the Year title at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. In 2005, Brisseau was found guilty of sexually harassing two actresses between 1999 and 2001 during auditions for the film. Plot Two Parisian girls, Nathalie, a stripper at a bar, and Sandrine, a bartender, conspire to climb the social ladder of Paris when they start living together. The club owner gives Sandrine an ultimatum to have sex with a paying client. Nathalie, after finishing her shift, defends and dissuades Sandrine from accepting the offer, and both girls are fired. Sandrine, after falling behind on her rent, is sure that the landlord will kick her out especially since she is unemployed, but Nathalie offers to share her apartment with Sandrine for a while. The girls decide to climb the corporate ladder by exploiting their sex appeal and get jobs as secretaries in a banking corporation. Sandrine is sent to HQ, and Nathalie is sent to Human Resource Department. They aim to seduce their bosses and get promoted, which Sandrine accomplishes with co-founder Monsieur Delacroix after becoming his secretary, but much ambiguity surrounds Nathalie. Christophe, the CEO's son and future heir to the banking corporation, is very handsome and the final target for both girls to seduce, but his reputation is devastating. Having gone through many women, Christophe is ruthless and seemingly emotionless yet has the capability to seduce any woman and make her fall madly in love with him. This resulted in previous romances ending with their suicide. Yet Sandrine still is determined to conquer him even after receiving a warning from Nathalie.