Secret Things

The culmination of Jean-Claude Brisseau’s long exploration of the relationship between power and sexuality. A fable of our capitalist times in which two libertine women seek to destroy men with their sexual power. But finally they are nearly destroyed by an absolute Machiavellian power.

Becoming acquainted with the pernicious pleasures of life can bring unpleasant surprises with it. Two young women enjoy themselves playing games in love and with their fate. Their aim: to conquer men and throw them one by one into a hopeless state of infatuation. They fake orgasms and play the dirtiest tricks. Nathalie is dancer in a nightclub. She initiates Sandrine, who works behind the bar in the club, into pleasure and delight. These smitten – and secretly jealous – sidekicks play games with the men together. They go to work for a large company and there they manipulate Delacroix, the right-hand of the boss, and the other senior personnel. Until the day breaks when their limited experience turns against them. Christophe, the son of the director, is a man who takes no notice of God or commandments. He rules over the women and endangers their plans. Brisseau continued his quest for the secret of female pleasure – an impossible task – and made a flamboyant melodrama filled with dark eroticism. With determination, power and beautify, he manages to portray the heart of desire: female longing. Choses secrètes exposes his characters mercilessly and inevitably, as well as the mechanisms of power and social status. –IFFR