Secret in Their Eyes

Secret in Their Eyes is not a mystery-thriller that leaves us pondering for long “whodunit”. The focus is on how two investigators and a Deputy District Attorney can relinquish obsessions that have glued them to a murder case for 13 years. This is a story of longings, obsession, and the inability to move on from events unaccounted for by justice. 

Written and directed by Billy Ray (who was Oscar-nominated for his Captain Phillips script), Secret in Their Eyes is based on Juan Jose Campanella’s 2009 El Secreto De Sus Ojos, which won the 2010 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Ray’s adaptation is initially set in post-9/11 Los Angeles, where tension is high four months after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Evidence of terror is dotted across the backdrop to the film: in badges featuring the American flag and in the cries of street vendors suggesting how best to defend your home against Saddam Hussein.

The plot is not focused on terrorism, however, but on relationships and the measures those involved are prepared to take to restore justice. Ray Kasten (Chiwetel Ejiofor) from the FBI’s counterterrorism unit and his colleague and close friend, DA investigator Jess Cobb (Julia Roberts, pictured below), have been assigned to monitor a local mosque. After Cobb’s daughter Carolyn (Zoe Graham) is brutally raped and murdered, the finger of suspicion is pointed at the mosque’s community, but when a more likely, unconnected suspect is found, this plot evolves into a reflection of the anti-Muslim paranoia that followed 9/11.

Kasten believes solving the case is necessary both on a professional level and to fulfil his duty as a friend to Cobb. He works with Claire Sloan (Nicole Kidman), the Harvard-educated Deputy DA – whom he loves unrequitedly – but the pair have only a crime scene sighting and a photo to lead them to Carolyn’s killer. After false leads and a series of cop chases get them nowhere, Sloan insists there is insufficient evidence and the case must be filed away to protect the reputation of the officers involved.

Flash forward to 2015. Kasten has spent 13 years studying thousands of Caucasian male mug shots and has finally found a match to the incriminating photograph. Armed with this, he returns to Los Angeles from New York with the same determination to solve the case and finally confess his love for Sloan, which has endured for over a decade.

Ray’s American take on the story is brasher and less romantic than Campanella’s original: gone is the male detective aspiring to write a passionate love story about a case he believed parallelled his feelings of longing, while the Argentinian film’s velvety piano soundtrack has been swapped for Emilio Kauderer's bold orchestral score. Some of Campanella’s subtleties – the stylish décor and intricate storyline – have been lost in Ray’s brassy Hollywood approach. More punches are thrown, Kidman’s character is a sexed-up version of her Argentinian counterpart and, most notably, the murder is brought one degree closer in Ray’s version, creating a more multi-layered role for Roberts as the bereaved investigator.

Kidman is a natural fit for Sloan’s authoritative intelligence, despite her Barbie blonde hair and silken blouses of 2002, which evoke the Stepford wife she once played rather than a courtroom professional. Ejiofor is credible as the solemn, loyal Kasten, whose neurotic nature is balanced by his protectiveness toward his female colleagues, which makes moments such as his snooping in Sloan’s office more goofy than threatening. Roberts is empathetic as the hollowed-out, guilt-ridden mother, though her frumpy fleeces and mismatched casual wear can’t quite banish the memory of the grit and glamour of Erin Brockovich. Breaking Bad’s Dean Norris is a noble rock as Kasten’s righthand man, and Joe Cole creepy as the story’s villain and false lead.

Ray’s adaptation is a thorough Americanisation, losing much of Campanella’s delicacy. It is unsurprising though still a little disappointing that Jess’s maxim, “Passion always wins”, should triumph so obviously in the final moments of concealment.