Thirtysomething wife and mother Marie (Anne Coësens) works as a sales agent for an encyclopedia chain - a suitable metaphor for her quest for knowledge and self-discovery. While on a routine job she meets Bill (Tony Todd), a strangely removed, black American dance teacher who ignites Marie's curiosity. On the pretence of having left a scarf at his house, she visits Bill again and offers herself to him.

In their numerous explicit encounters, Marie enjoys a sexual fulfillment that's painfully absent from her relationship with husband François, and relishes an escape from the mundanity of her shared home life. Despite the risks involved she embraces her secret and the payoff it provides.

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On one level Le Secret can be read as a straightforward tale of midlife crises, yet the ambiguity surrounding Marie's motives hints at a deeper psychological and philosophical understanding. Marie is intent on 'reclaiming' her body and eschews François's insistence on a second child. What she craves and finds in her relationship with Bill is an arena in which she's able to make her own decisions and more importantly, play a part in her own destiny.

This is an intense character study, ably sustained by the three exceptional central performances. Anne Coësens is effectively perplexing as the childlike, tight-mouthed Marie whose seemingly selfish desires are neatly juxtaposed by an innate innocence. Michel Bompoil is superb as the lovably guileless husband and Tony Todd, best known for his role as the terrorizing Candyman, epitomises a credible 'otherness' that few actors can achieve.

The issues raised may be standard fayre for French cinema, but Le Secret's ambition and execution reveals a director with a unique talent for taught, edgy drama.

Clare Norton-Smith