Second visit of the week to the cinema and I’m really not sure what I made of this film. It is beautifully shot and large portions of the film look like a kind of 1960’s spy homage heavy with sepia tones and dark shadows.

The title refers to both secrets being kept and also to the secrets in a marriage. This relationship, which is essentially the central theme of the film, relies on both applications of the phrase. George (Michael Fassbender) and Kathryn (Cate Blanchett) are in turn portrayed in a suspicious light and I was left wondering for quite some time who to trust. Or even if they trusted each other.

The complicated friend/colleague relationships are exploited by all concerned and the mingling of personal and business worlds are visually separated by the aforementioned sepia tones of their home lives and the stark modern buildings of their work settings.

There was definitely an element of satire on show, albeit very gentle. If you weren’t paying attention it would have been easy to take the whole thing at face value but there was definitely some gentle ribbing of the whole spy genre going on here, however poker faced the cast played it. It wasn’t heavy enough to be comedy, but it was light enough to not take the whole thing too seriously.

I’m not a fan of Bond or the spy genre generally but this was interesting, more personal relationships than I expected and less gadgets/tech than a Bond film I think but it was enjoyable.

6 out of 10 from me. 7 for Mr G.