6.4/10
2,901
13 user 15 critic

Secret défense (2008)

In France, terrorist groups and intelligence agencies battle in a merciless war everyday, in the name of radically opposed ideologies. Yet, terrorist and secret agents lead almost the same ... See full summary »

Director:

Writers:

(participation) (as Nathalie Carter), (idea) | 1 more credit »
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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
Alex
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Diane / Lisa
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Pierre
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Ahmed
Rachida Brakni ...
Leïla / Chadia
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Al Barad
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Jérémy
Katia Lewkowicz ...
Aline
Kamel Belghazi ...
Aziz
Djemel Barek ...
Khaled
Carim Messalti ...
Hajj
...
Danar
Nicolas Marié ...
Fouche
...
Salem
...
Slim
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Storyline

In France, terrorist groups and intelligence agencies battle in a merciless war everyday, in the name of radically opposed ideologies. Yet, terrorist and secret agents lead almost the same lives. Condemned to secrecy, these masters of manipulation follow the same methods. Alex and Al Barad are two of them. The former is the head of the D.G.S.E.'s (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure, the French equivalent of the CIA or the MI6) counter-terrorism unit while the latter reigns over a terrorist network, and both fight using the most ruthless of weapons: human beings. Secret Défense (aka Secrets Of State) tells of their secret war through the destinies of Diane, a student recruited by the French secret service, and Pierre, a troubled young man who thinks terrorism will bring him salvation. Trained and indoctrinated for missions which are beyond them, they are both drawn into a chain of events from which they seem incapable of escaping. While they both be sacrificed in the name of ... Written by Happy_Evil_Dude

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Genres:

Thriller

Certificate:

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Details

Official Sites:

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Language:

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Release Date:

10 December 2008 (France)  »

Also Known As:

Secret Defense  »

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Box Office

Budget:

€11,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

€1,038,041 (France), 14 December 2008, Limited Release
See more on IMDbPro »

Company Credits

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Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

|

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Nicolas Duvauchelle's scene in the isolation cell was heavily improvised by the actor, with minimal direction from director Philippe Haïm See more »

Goofs

The terrorist boards Metro line 4 in station Montparnasse. He never changes line. He is pulled out of it in a station where you can see, at the front of the train, a passage going towards line 11. Being in line 4 to change to line 11, you have to take the train northward. But nowhere on line 4 northward, there is any such passage at the front of the train. The only such passage would be at the back of the train, in station Châtelet. See more »

Connections

Featured in En bonne intelligence (2010) See more »

Soundtracks

Space Weaver
Performed by Lisa Gerrard
Composed by Lisa Gerrard and 'Michael Edwards (XIX)'
Published by Sony ATV Music Publishing Australia
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User Reviews

 
My I don't know how much they spent on the budget but it wasn't worth it!
29 June 2009 | by – See all my reviews

Right, I think the first issue is with the editing, pace was roughly there but it just seemed to stutter in places and when most of the actors seem to have come straight out of stage school the pace really needs to be right on the button(compare and contrast with the UK TV drama, Spooks).

The story was weak and watered down, too many jumps without any suggestion, a poor script and direction also.

Thirdly the female lead, Vahina Giocante, really should have been shown the door after the first week, too much overacting for me, I've seen comedians act better. However I haven't seen any of her other stuff though so it could have been just a duff one for her.

Simon Abkarian has played measured bad guys before and did pretty well but I'm afraid that poor old Gérard Lanvin just didn't have enough script to go on, they spent too much time on the Martyr when they could have worked more on his character.

Sorry I really had high hopes for this and really wanted to like it, I even watched it twice to make sure I wasn't missing anything, but remember this is my opinion I'm sure others will love it. they tried to take the Spooks concept and do a French big budget movie, perhaps they should have got a script re-write and got Mathieu Kassovitz to direct.


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