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The Secret In Their Eyes

THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES written and directed by Juan José Campa­nella, from the novel by Eduardo Sacheri, with Ricardo Darín, Soledad Villamil and Guillermo Francella. 129 minutes. Subtitled. A Mongrel release. Opens Friday (April 23). For venues, trailers and times, see Movies. Rating: NNNN


That Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language film is turning into the hardest category to predict.[rssbreak]

The Secret In Their Eyes was the surprise winner this year when it beat out critically hailed pics The White Ribbon and A Prophet.

Like Departures, the film that messed with everybody’s Oscar pool in the same category last year, Secret isn’t as flashy as its rivals. It’s the kind of subtle movie that creeps up on you and then stays with you hours after it’s over.

Esposito (sad-eyed Ricardo Darín, in a beautiful performance) is a retired police investigator in Buenos Aires. Restless and alone, he pens a novel about a 20-year-old case of rape and murder that still haunts him.

Using the novel as device for moving back and forth through time (the time-travelling is easy to follow since the characters look their age), director Campanella discloses the essential reasons why Esposito can’t let the case go.

On the surface, this is a crime thriller. But it’s also a complex study of memory, passion and regret. The victim’s husband, even a year after the crime, still waits at the train station, imagining the killer will appear.

Esposito and his former supervisor, Irene (a radiant Soledad Villamil), always harboured a mutual attraction that they could never act on. One gorgeous sequence in which the two try to communicate their feelings and almost go cheek to cheek is breathtaking in the way it conveys yearning.

And passion – in this case for soccer – plays a key role in uncovering the killer, Gómez.

The film has political overtones, too. Corrupt cop Romano, clearly working for the right-wing secret police, springs Gómez from prison after encouraging the rapist to help frame political prisoners. And assassins do their dirty work with no repercussions.

But these scenes are embedded in the narrative, not wielded like a hammer.

Campanella obviously grasps that sometimes the softest touch creates the deepest impact.

susanc@nowtoronto.com

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