''Secrets'' is a 1971 British

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Philip Saville Philip Saville (28 October 1927 – 22 December 2016) was a British director, screenwriter and former actor whose career lasted half a century. The British Film Institute's Screenonline website described Saville as "one of Britain's most prolifi ...

, and starring

Jacqueline Bisset Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset ( ; born 13 September 1944) is a British actress. She began her film career in 1965 and first came to prominence in 1968 with roles in '' The Detective'', ''Bullitt'', and ''The Sweet Ride'', for which she rec ...

Per Oscarsson Per Oscar Heinrich Oscarsson (28 January 1927 – 31 December 2010) was a Swedish actor. He is best known for his role in the 1966 film ''Hunger'', which earned him a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor. Early life Oscarsson was born, along ...

Shirley Knight Shirley Knight Hopkins (July 5, 1936 – April 22, 2020) was an American actress who appeared in more than 50 feature films, television films, television series, and Broadway and Off-Broadway productions in her career, playing leading and charac ...

and

Robert Powell Robert Powell (; born 1 June 1944) is an English actor who is known for the title roles in '' Mahler'' (1974) and ''Jesus of Nazareth'' (1977), and for his portrayal of secret agent Richard Hannay in '' The Thirty Nine Steps'' (1978) and its s ...

Synopsis

Over the course of a single day a couple's strained marriage is revealed and then cured by their flirtations with strangers.

Cast

as Jennifer Wood *

as Raoul Kramer *

as Allan Wood *

as Beatrice * Martin C. Thurley as Raymond * Peter Jeffries as Interviewer * Stephen Martin as Dominic * Tarka Kings as Judy Wood

Production

The film was made on location around

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

including in Hyde Park. The film's sets were designed by the art director Brian Eatwell. The film was shot in Super 16mm which the producer claim was 80% cheaper than if it had been shot on 35 mm. As stated in a 5 May 1978 HR brief, Jacqueline Bisset was displeased by Lone Star's exploitation of her nude love scene. HR noted that Secrets was initially purchased by Lone Star to be converted into a pornographic short film, and Penthouse, Playboy and Hustler were reportedly bidding up to $60,000 to acquire still photographs from the picture. A 13 Mar 1978 Box advertisement for the R-rated film offered distributors a $10,000 challenge to disprove Bisset's contention that she did not appear in the disputed nude love scenes, using the controversy to sell the picture to exhibitors.

Release

''Sight and Sound'' said it "would hardly pass an hour on television." ''The New Statesman'' called it "a silliness." The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' said "technical experiment is the film's only novelty."

US Release

The film was released in the United States in 1978 with publicity highlighting the fact it featured a nude scene from Bisset. The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' called it "among Bisset's best films."

References

External links

* *
Secrets
at BFI
Secrets
at Letterbox DVD 1971 films British drama films Films directed by Philip Saville 1971 drama films Films shot in London Films set in London 1970s English-language films 1970s British films English-language drama films {{1970s-UK-film-stub