Campanella, who overconfidently takes his time, outfits the film with ludicrous interrogation scenes, a drunken colleague who provides comic relief and redemptive tragedy, and a climactic flood of memories that plays like a trailer.
The Secret in Their Eyes(El secreto de sus ojos)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Argentina, Spain · 2009
Rated R · 2h 9m
Director Juan José Campanella
Starring Ricardo Darín, Soledad Villamil, Pablo Rago, Javier Godino
Genre Crime, Drama, Mystery
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
A former legal counsellor, now retired, decides to use an unresolved case from his career as inspiration for a novel he's writing. However, revisiting the past only makes him more desperate for closure, and his passion for finding the truth is reignited. A taut, twisty thriller worthy of a spot amongst the best.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
It's powerfully and richly imagined: a genre-busting movie that successfully combines the utmost in romanticism with the utmost in realism.
A deeply rewarding throwback to the unself-conscious days when cinema still strove to be magical, The Secrets in their Eyes is simply mesmerizing.
About as deep as a kiddie pool, which isn't to say it's an unpleasant frolic.
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
The performances are tender, the script elegant, the cinematography (especially during a virtuoso chase scene in a soccer stadium) artful.
Boxoffice Magazine by Pete Hammond
Campanella has laced his story with twists and turns worthy of Hitchcock and the framing device of the novel (which forces the protagonist to sort out the whole thing through writing) is ingenious.
Miami Herald by Rene Rodriguez
Although it is structured like a thriller, and its plot dominated by Benjamin's detective work, The Secret in Their Eyes is really a cautionary tale about the consequences of a life of too much apprehension and propriety.
The film sprawls across two decades and 127 minutes, but there isn't a memorable image in it.
The secret here is that the movie is rather tasteless. It has the high, slightly nauseating stink of perfume on garbage.
Users who liked this film also liked
Amores Perros
(Amores perros)
Love. Betrayal. Death.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Mexico • 2000
- Director Alejandro González Iñárritu
- Cast Gael García Bernal, Vanessa Bauche, Goya Toledo, Alvaro Guerrero, Emilio Echevarría, Jorge Salinas
- Genre Drama, Thriller
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Paramount Plus Apple TV Channel , Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, Tubi TV, Freevee, Hoopla
Talk to Her
(Hable con ella)
Two men share an odd friendship while they care for two women who are both in deep comas.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain • 2002
- Director Pedro Almodóvar
- Cast Leonor Watling, Rosario Flores, Javier Cámara, Darío Grandinetti, Mariola Fuentes, Geraldine Chaplin
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AMC on Demand
All About My Mother
(Todo sobre mi madre)
After Manuela’s teenage son Esteban is tragically killed, she searches for Esteban’s biological father, a transgender woman.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain, France • 1999
- Director Pedro Almodóvar
- Cast Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Penélope Cruz, Candela Peña, Antonia San Juan, Rosa María Sardà
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, AMC on Demand
The Lives of Others
(Das Leben der Anderen)
Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany's secret police listened to your secrets.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany • 2006
- Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
- Cast Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur, Thomas Thieme, Hans-Uwe Bauer
- Genre Drama, Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AMC on Demand
La Jetée
The story of a post-nuclear war experiment with time travel, constructed almost entirely from still photos.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1962
- Director Chris Marker
- Cast Jean Négroni, Hélène Chatelain, Davos Hanich, Jacques Ledoux, André Heinrich, Jacques Branchu
- Genre Romance, Science Fiction
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Amazon Video
Crash
Love in the dying moments of the twentieth century.
- ✭ ✭
- Canada, United Kingdom • 1996
- Director David Cronenberg
- Cast James Spader, Deborah Kara Unger, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, Rosanna Arquette, Peter MacNeill
- Genre Drama, Romance, Thriller
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Sans Soleil
(Sans soleil)
This experimental essay-film weaves together narratives from across the world.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1983
- Director Chris Marker
- Cast Florence Delay, Arielle Dombasle, Riyoko Ikeda, Charlotte Kerr, Alexandra Stewart
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Kanopy, Criterion Channel
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
(Le scaphandre et le papillon)
The true story of a man who suffered a stroke that paralyzed his entire body except for his left eye.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, United States • 2007
- Director Julian Schnabel
- Cast Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, Anne Consigny, Patrick Chesnais, Niels Arestrup
- Genre Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Hoopla
Godsend
When a miracle becomes a nightmare, evil is born.
- ✭
- Canada, United States • 2004
- Director Nick Hamm
- Cast Greg Kinnear, Rebecca Romijn, Robert De Niro, Cameron Bright, Zoie Palmer, Munro Chambers
- Genre Drama, Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller
- Available on Starz, Starz Roku Premium Channel, Starz Amazon Channel, Starz Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
Waiting for the Hearse
(Esperando la carroza)
An Argentine family believes their mother to have died and give her a funeral.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Argentina • 1985
- Director Alejandro Doria
- Cast Luis Brandoni, China Zorrilla, Antonio Gasalla, Julio De Grazia, Betiana Blum, Juan Manuel Tenuta
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
(Män som hatar kvinnor)
Only those discarded by society can uncover its most ugly truths
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Sweden, Denmark, Germany • 2009
- Director Niels Arden Oplev
- Cast Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre, Sven-Bertil Taube, Peter Andersson, Peter Haber
- Genre Drama, Thriller, Crime, Mystery
- Available on Fandor, fuboTV, MZ Choice Amazon Channel, Amazon Video, Crackle, Plex, Plex Channel
Nine Queens
(Nueve reinas)
Two con artists try to swindle a stamp collector by selling him a counterfeit sheet of rare stamps.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Argentina • 2000
- Director Fabián Bielinsky
- Cast Ricardo Darín, Gastón Pauls, Leticia Brédice, María Mercedes Villagra, Gabo Correa, Pochi Ducasse
- Genre Crime
- Available on Apple TV, Amazon Video
A Separation
(جدایی نادر از سیمین)
Simin wants to leave Iran to give her daughter, Termeh, a different kind of life outside the country. But Nader, Termeh’s father, refuses to leave his ailing father behind.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Iran, France • 2011
- Director Asghar Farhadi
- Cast Leila Hatami, Payman Maadi, Shahab Hosseini, Sareh Bayat, Sarina Farhadi, Babak Karimi
- Genre Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand
Chinese Take-Away
(Un cuento chino)
Roberto meets Jun, a Chinese man searching for his uncle after being assaulted by a taxi driver and his henchmen.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Argentina, Spain • 2011
- Director Sebastián Borensztein
- Cast Ricardo Darín, Muriel Santa Ana, Javier Pinto, Ignacio Huang, Enric Cambray, Iván Romanelli
- Genre Comedy
- Available on Kanopy
Wild Tales
(Relatos salvajes)
We can all lose control...
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Argentina, Spain • 2014
- Director Damián Szifrón
- Cast Ricardo Darín, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Darío Grandinetti, Érica Rivas, Nancy Dupláa
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Fandango At Home, AMC on Demand
Neruda
A renowned poet. An unknown inspector. A legendary manhunt.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Chile, Argentina, France • 2016
- Director Pablo Larraín
- Cast Gael García Bernal, Luis Gnecco, Mercedes Morán, Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, Diego Muñoz, Alejandro Goic
- Genre Drama
- Available on Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, VUDU Free, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
Frantz
A young woman grieving the death of her fiancé meets a mysterious French man who's visiting her fiancé's grave.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Germany • 2016
- Director François Ozon
- Cast Paula Beer, Pierre Niney, Ernst Stötzner, Marie Gruber, Johann von Bülow, Anton von Lucke
- Genre History, Drama, Romance
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, OVID, Dekkoo, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Crackle, Tubi TV, VUDU Free, Kanopy, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel