Secret Smile

2005
6.8| 0h30m| en
Synopsis

After Miranda Cotton breaks off her affair with the manipulative Brendan Block, she and her family become targets of his depraved revenge scheme.

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Reviews

Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.
TinsHeadline Touches You
Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good
Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
alienminx After watching the whole show (both parts of the mini series on BBC America), i really wasn't sure if Brendan deserved what he got. Did he actually do all the things we were lead to believe he did or did Miranda just get obsessed with the whole idea of what she thought he was doing. He did actually move on and get out of her life, but she still persisted on going after him. Was he really a murderer or was he set up by a woman just set on revenge???Looking back over it, you really don't know on a lot of things, did he deliberately date Miranda's sister to get back at her (or just to be near her), did he cause Troy's death, did he kill Laura, did he kill his parents, we don't really know, Miranda just leads you to think that. OK, Brendan can be a really nasty piece of work, definitely a split personality.I think it's worth another look, just don't look at the flaws too much, it's a good watch, very entertaining, not the best suspense made but David Tennant's performance alone makes it worth watching!
jenniferfinlay This drama is based on the novel by Nicci French.Having read the book i hoped that they would be true to the story,and they were. David Tennant was absolutely chilling as the creepy,but handsome and charismatic Brendan Block.A total departure from Doctor Who.There is none of his quirkiness in this drama.Brendan Block is EVIL.This i would say is one of David Tennant's best roles to date. Kate Ashfield as Miranda Cotton is brilliant too.Her portrayal as the heroine who refuses to give up,until she nails Block was fantastic. Claire Goose put in a very good performance as Kerry (miranda's sister,and one of Block's victims) Miranda meets Brendan,and after a torrid ten day relationship,finishes with him,after she catches him reading her diary,and rifling through her belongings. He can't accept this,and sets out to take revenge on her,and basically ruin her life,starting with Kerry. The drama continues to hold you,until the very end scene. Will Miranda stop him,or will Brendan ruin her life,and threaten her friendships,relationships,and very sanity. A totally absorbing drama to the end. From the same director of the recent excellent drama See No Evil.
DarthAbspie Miranda Cotton meets a guy; takes him home, bit of hanky-panky, they start to see each other. Just like any other relationship. But when she catches him reading her diary, she starts to get a bit worried, and asks him to leave.To her shock and terror, in a few months he has proposed to her sister.This piece really gripped me from start to finish. I curled up with a blanket and watched it - as a Doctor Who fan for many years, it's important to me that my Doctor is a good actor, and although I'd seen Tennant's acting before and loved it, I wanted to have a final test. I was certainly impressed. Secret Smile had a solid enough storyline that really terrified me in places, but it really was all down to the fabulous casting. Kate Ashfield (Miranda) had you on her side all the way through, conveying well what the emotions were - and Susannah Wise (Miranda's best friend, Laura) and her 'husband', James Daffern, despite having minor roles, impressed me beyond many of the other supporting cast.There was not a truly weak performance in the cast. If I had to pick a low point it would probably be Claire Goose, but I think that was just down to a bad character as opposed to the acting; the book's Kerry is considerably different, somehow, and I didn't find myself connecting with this one so powerfully.David Tennant was, however, the true highlight - he managed to convey Brendan's truly sadistic side with just a look - and yet still managed to have me feeling sorry for him when Miranda turned him away. 'That line' as it has become known - I won't write it, but suffice to say it's when he was thinking about her lips - was delivered with such a venom, that it physically made me shudder. A wonderful performance with immense presence. Also, kudos to Robert Lowe for a moving piece as Troy Cotton, even if his character was unbelievable.Altogether, 10/10 for acting, 7/10 for plot. Definitely worth a watch - I videoed it, and really enjoyed it.
Jackson Booth-Millard Goodnight Mister Tom was brilliant, Footsteps in the Snow was a good biography, and this was another good ITV made-for-TV film. Basically Miranda Cotton (Kate Ashfield from Shaun of the Dead) one day meets a complete stranger and they have sex. After about ten days, she wants Brendan Block (Doctor Who's David Tennant) to leave. Then the next thing she knows, he's met and proposed to her sister, Kerry (Claire Goose). Soon after Brendan poisoning her life, Miranda's sister commits suicide when he believes that she doesn't care about him, says Brendan. Now worst of all, Brendan dumps Kerry for another woman, and now Miranda needs to warn her of what he's capable of. Then the unthinkable and horrible happens, he rapes Miranda. That then clinches it and Miranda and Kerry, oh, and the new girl, form a plan to put Brendan behind bars. This is the really good twist, that it looks like Miranda was dead, because of blood in bathroom and Brendan's fingerprints on her keys, but she was actually having a short holiday. Great idea! Anyway, this is a very good drama, the title obviously suggests his character. Very good!