- 10
...simply mesmerizing. While it packs two generation-spanning love stories, a noirish thriller, some delicious comedy, a pointed political critique and much food for thought into more than two hours? compelling, grown-up entertainment, the film is still more than the sum of its parts.
—Jonathan Holland Variety
- 9
...in today's unhappy distribution scene, the Oscar means your chances of seeing this film are much increased. You won't regret it. This is a real movie, the kind they literally don't make very much anymore.
—Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times
- 9
You never quite know where it's going, yet its mixture of tones and colors and melodrama and mature, mellow romance is irresistible.
—Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune
- 9
Holding the viewer in thrall for most of its two-hour running time, it has the kind of universal appeal that unites critics and audiences...
—Deborah Young Hollywood Reporter
- 8
...that rare police procedural that engages emotions as well as intellect.
—Claudia Puig USA Today
- 8
...has a decent shot at wearing down resistance to subtitled films. Don't be put off. This spellbinder from Argentina will sneak up and floor you. It's that good.
—Peter Travers Rolling Stone
- 8
Like the murder at the heart of this tale, Secret is bound to linger in the memory for years.
—Betsy Sharkey Los Angeles Times
- 8
...works best as a thriller with a slightly Edgar Allan Poe-ish bent.
—Peter Rainer Christian Science Monitor
- 7
...an attractive, messy drama riddled with violence and edged with comedy that comes with a hint of Grand Guignol, a suggestion of politics and three resonant, deeply appealing performances.
—Manohla Dargis New York Times
- 7
Organized in a vague approximation of a three-episode L&O marathon, scenes regularly fade to black, then pick up elsewhere. All that's missing are title cards with Argentinean addresses to map the progress as secrets are revealed before our eyes.
—Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly
- 7
...a nearly perfect love story/murder mystery that unfortunately falters at the end.
—Lou Lumenick New York Post
- 6
...an epic romance bereft of intimacy, a crime procedural short on thrills, or a character study lacking focus. It is at once stricken with immense grief and given to flights of romantic and comedic levity. And yet, the film remains an inscrutably engaging drama, anchored by a handful of detailed characters that wade through Campanella's gloomy narrative.
—Chris Cabin filmcritic.com
- 6
... turns out to be exactly the type of film the Academy traditionally honors: intelligent but conventional, an actor?s showcase with glossy production values, and a little too polite.
—Scott Tobias Onion AV Club
- 4
...it's the big reveal -- a secret burden, naturally, to end all secret burdens -- that ends the movie with Oscar-winning ridiculousness.
—Nick Pinkerton Village Voice
- 3
...[the film's] ingredients combine for a sort of idiot salad, but because it's a foreign film with boobs in it, Secret passes for high art.
—Aaron Cutler Slant Magazine