In the lower echelons of Parisian society in the 1860s, Thérèse Raquin is a beautiful, sexually repressed young woman trapped in a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin, Camille, whom she was forced to marry by her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin.
Thérèse spends her days confined behind the counter of a small shop and her evenings watching Madame Raquin play dominoes with an eclectic group of acquaintances. After she meets her husband's alluring friend Laurent LeClaire, the two embark on an illicit affair that leads to tragic consequences.
During an outing on the lake with Laurent and Therese, Camille is beaten to death by Laurent and subsequently drowns. Madame Raquin finds it difficult to come to terms with her son's death and is soon incapacitated by a stroke, but overhears Laurent and Therese speaking about what they did. With great effort, she alerts one of their friends, who informs the authorities.
To escape being sentenced for the murder, Laurent and Therese choose to take their own lives. They go down to the river and share one final kiss after drinking poison mixed with champagne, and thus they die in front of Madame Raquin.
In Secret received mixed reviews. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 41% approval rating, with an average score of 5.30/10, based on reviews from 87 critics. The consensus states: "Although it benefits from a strong cast, In Secret's stars can't totally compensate for the movie's sodden pacing and overly familiar story."[8]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 47 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[9]
Despite mixed reviews, Lange's performance has received critical acclaim. David Lee Dallas from Slant Magazine called Lange's character's "latent severity dangerous and surprising."[10] Michael O'Sullivan from The Washington Post noted that "Subtlety may not be this film's strong suit, but it certainly is Lange's."[11] Jessica Herdon of the Associated Press added that Lange "[goes] from agonized to helpless, so poignantly that your heart breaks for her."[12] Odie Henderson praised Lange on her ability to "...[find] the perfect line of lunacy to toe, which In Secret requires for her character's arc..."[13] Emma Myers from Film Comment described her ability to "[maintain] a looming presence that shifts from despicable to sympathetic and back again."[14]USA Today described her work as her "...most fully dimensional performance."[15]Variety mentioned that Lange "...relishes what becomes the most dramatically potent role."[16] Joshua Rothkopf from Time Out New York praised the chemistry between Olsen and Isaac.[17]
