Secrets
Movie | |
---|---|
German title | Secrets |
Original title | Uncovered |
Country of production | UK , Spain |
original language | English |
Publishing year | 1994 |
length | 112 minutes |
Age rating | FSK 12 |
Rod | |
Director | Jim McBride |
script |
Michael Hirst Jack Baran Jim McBride |
production |
Enrique Posner Denise O'Dell |
music | Philippe Sarde |
camera | Affonso Beato |
cut | Éva Gárdos |
occupation | |
|
Secrets (English original title: Uncovered , in German: discovered or revealed ) is a thriller by the American director Jim McBride from 1994. The film was based on the novel "The Secret of the Black Lady" by the Spanish writer Arturo Pérez-Reverte .
content
Restorer Julia Darro lives and works in Barcelona . An old man hires her to restore a Flemish master's painting before it is to be sold. The painting dates from 1471 and bears the title "The game of chess ". It has been in the family of the current owner since its completion. A scene is shown in a room with three people: two noblemen , one of which is a young knight , the other an older man, are sitting at a table and playing a game of chess, on the right in the background is a young woman dressed in black, apparently with a book reading and at the same time watching the two men.
When Julia took an X-ray of the painting for her work , she discovered that part of it had been painted over. She discovers a hidden beneath the subsequently applied coat of paint message: On a tape is in Latin "QVIS NECAVIT EQVITEM" what both "Who has the Springer struck?" , And "Who killed the knight?" Can mean. It turns out that the people depicted actually lived and that the young knight depicted was murdered under unexplained circumstances. The perpetrator and motive remained unknown. The people were the Duke of Ostenburg and his wife Beatrix as well as the young knight Roget, an envoy of the French king.
Together with the owner of the painting, her ex-boyfriend, the art historian Alvaro, her fatherly friend Cesar and the chess player Domenec, Julia sets out to uncover the mystery of the perpetrator and the motif, which leads to further murders. Domenec helps solve the 500 year old murder case by analyzing the positions of the pieces remaining on the chessboard so that he can then play the game backwards . In this way it is possible to identify the person who "struck the knight " or "killed the knight" . This solution also results in the investigation of the series of murders in the present.
criticism
The lexicon of international films stated: “A partially over-constructed chess thriller that gives away its good ideas in favor of an overly smoothed story. In addition to the credible leading actress, the Barcelona location is convincing, which gives the film an idiosyncratic, fascinating charm. "
Web links
- Secrets in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Cover of the Spanish book edition with a representation of the complete painting
- Discussion about the parts on the painting and in the park at imdb.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Secrets. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .