Si j'étais toi

I'm not entirely sure why most sites put this under the "Thrillers" genre rather than "drama", but I'm glad i saw it regardless.

Based on the 1998 book 'Himitsu' by Japanese writer Keigo Higashino, this is a heart-strings story with its fair share of humor. But it's definitely a tear-jerker, and a very good one at that. It was shot in Montreal (hence all the French names in the credits) but could be set anywhere in the States.

If you happen to really like Lili Taylor & David Duchovny as I do, then you're in for a treat. The young actress is also wonderful and holds her own against these two veterans. I was relieved that they did not cross the line in this version (you'll know what i mean when you watch the film); it would have cheapened the film and changed the whole message and dynamic.

All in all, a film worth watching.

~NN

Hiroshi Saitô's screenplay was reworked by Ann Cherkis to take place in America.

Hannah, the mom (Lili Taylor - "Six Feet Under") and her daughter Sam(Olivia Thirlby - Juno) are in a car accident and through some magic the soul of the mother is transferred to the daughter.

You can imagine the hilarity as Sam, who is now Hannah, but looks like Sam, returns to school as Sam (she is 16) and discovers that her daughter is smoking pot and having sex. Or, when she pops into her husband's office and sees him flirting with her guidance counselor.

Her husband/father (David Duchovny) doesn't know what to feel. He hers his wife, but sees his daughter. Now, that is messed up.

Thirlby was amazing in a dual role.

The ending was messed up.

The story is pretty contrived, but it's easy to look past that because it is more about the relationship between the characters instead of the mystery or whatever of a mother being trapped in her daughter's body. It's a film well worth watching for the superb performances from David Duchovny (who has quickly become a huge obsession of mine) and especially Olivia Thirlby who convincingly portrays this adult soul trapped in her teenage body. She was absolutely brilliant and will probably stay in at least my top ten by the end of the year. Even more impressive was the fact that this was actually her first role ever in film, just other stuff got released before it. The two of them were devastating together and worked so well, which is outstanding because of the age difference. They did a great job of moving seamlessly between such a wide range of emotions from sexual repression to jealousy to anger.

This film had a decent cast, but some of them didn't seem to fit their parts. Now David Duchovny did a pretty good job. He seemed normal and the parts when he was losing it, he was very believable. Lili Taylor did a good job, but I wish she was in it more. Olivia Thirlby plays the daughter of Duchovny and Taylor. The mom's soul goes into the daughter, so through most of the movie, Thirlby had to pretend to act like Taylor. At parts it seemed like she was, but other parts not so much. I did on the other hand like the story a lot. The ending was a little off for me, but it wasn't terrible. The movie really didn't have a scare factor. The film sets itself up to be scary, but it is not. It is mentally creepy though. If you pay attention to the characters, you will see what I am talking about. So overall, it was decent, but not the best of its genre.

The reason why I didn't disapprove it was because up to a certain extent it was an original film that made me question unquestioned things and it was quite good to watch. Must be added here that if I might enjoyed it more than other people since I haven't seen the original film and the book source of this.

"The Secret" (or "Si j'étais toi" it only got this title because the director is French. Go figure.) looks like one of those magnificent films with supernatural themes, very close to Bruce Joel Rubin's scripts ("Ghost" and "Jacob's Ladder") in the sense of making us wondering of things that would happen after someone's death, the kind of strange experiences of someone who can't let go of the living world. Only looks like but it never gets close to those examples. The challenge here is given to a happy family (or close to such situation) after a car accident involving mother (Lili Taylor) and daughter (Olivia Thirlby) where the mother died but her spirit was "transported" into her teenage daughter, who seemed to get trapped somewhere. It gets stranger when the omnipotent spirit has to deal with her loyal husband (David Duchovny). At first he rejects this happening, later accepting it when the daughter starts to reveal personal details of the couple, like when they first met and other things. From this moment on, we follow the bizarre process of the couple (or father/daughter if you prefer) in dealing with the current situation; the father trying to find a way to live with this and the woman having to go through the high school years again, but this time living everything her daughter (who never liked her) is experiencing with her friends, boyfriends and on and on. And if you think the woman will let go of her husband, wrong. She wants him even trapped in this new body and you might guess the upcoming problems from here.

If this was a comedy I would have appreciated it more. It has all the required elements for a well humored and crazy project, but unfortunately this wasn't a comic film (although it has some funny moments). Filled with anguish, a little bit thoughtful and very unexpected, the supernatural aspect of the movie is the thing in which we connect more, the things to be watched. Can't say the same about the family drama after the spirit/body conversion, specially towards the conclusion and we know about the daughter's life in school, her relations and the way he sees the world around her. She's young, trying to make her way and trying to escape from her mother's dedicated attention and affection at the same time she quotes in her diary about no one caring for her - when she's surrounded of people who like her - being intelligent is underappreaciated, life sucks. It says one thing but shows another, totally unconvincing and it's one of those things that is really hard to relate. Try real contempt, little girl then you'll know about life. I really urge you to pay attention to those moments since they're what makes the poor and unlikely ending. And we didn't know much about the mother before the accident, it doesn't show much and we should have more scenes with her, maybe some flashbacks rather than seeing her inside of a unlikeable teen.

Go forward with low expectations and you'll be rewarded with some mildly decent entertainment and some thoughtful issues. But only if the last one would speak higher than the first one, then we would have THE movie. 6/10