Secret Smile

I would have to disagree with the comments made previously. Secret Smile was a complete breath of fresh air to drama. The characters were unusual and that is what made it an absolute triumph. I'm glad that Miranda mumbled, it shows her passiveness and lack of control in the situation. It's different that her sister was the weak one because in the end, we see the dominating character that was Brendan fooled by his own game, by the people we perceived as weak. So what if Troy isn't a class example of you depression. Who cares if you have a degree in Psychology? You're just bitter because it isn't they way you studied depression. It's fiction. Get Over It. Forget all the factual stuff of depression and the psychology behind. Fair enough I don't have the degree, but I found it truly though-provoking and found myself comparing my personality to the persona of some of the characters. It's good that I connect with the programme because you want to be fooled into thinking. Nobody has time to pick out all the certain flaws in a television programme. I loved Secret Smile and it certainly fooled me. And that my friend was pure elite drama.

Oh, Secret Smile. I love you, but hesitate to recommend you. The last time I did online, I got so much static. And the criticism were mostly valid: it's exploitative, the plot relies on everyone aside from the leads behaving as stupidly as possible, some aspects of mental illness and the legal system are depicted inaccurately, and more. But the main reason why people hate it is because it presses their buttons. Brendan is both very attractive and the ultimate nightmare stalker, and viewers -- not to mention the other characters -- are pushed and pulled between their conflicting feelings about that. When you think about it, it's clever, because it's similar to the push/pull people sometimes feel for their stalker, often an ex that they struggle to get away from, and stay away. Claire's character is less vulnerable than most people, and tries to get out fast, but even so, Brendan insinuates himself into her life. And that is frankly, frightening. Look: I've been stalked twice in my life. I'm far from believing "this can happen to anyone" and victims are helpless, but anyone can be sucked into a stalker's game for a time. And if it hasn't happened to them, the people around you won't understand completely. I wish I had a dollar for every time someone said "have you told him to leave you alone?" So I can say with confidence that Brendan's dialogue and behaviour, at least in the early part of the show is realistic. If you can appreciate this show as a crazy nightmare with a core of reality, you will not only enjoy it, but also have some food for thought.

This show is 1.5 decades old but I just watched it and mostly for Tennant. The rest of the cast was good, and I especially like John Bowe (Miranda's father).

All that being said, the ending was daft and completely unrealistic. That, alone, ruined it all for me.

Oh, Yawn. Not another chick flick where the men are all pigs and the women will get even for the abuse they suffered. The only difference is that, in this film, everybody's a pig or has mush for brains. I hated this film for the moral issue of why it's right to send a man to prison for life for a murder he didn't commit. Is that a more immoral act than his abuse and deviousness. This movie shows all the situational ethics of bad writing. I saw it on the CBC's "Best of Britain" series. If this is Britain's best, no wonder the British film industry is in trouble.

The only bright spot in this film was David Tennant, He plays his character as so despicable that I'm likely to spit on the next person who speaks with a Scottish accent. Kate Ashfield tries to play the victim but comes off in the end as immorally devious as David Tennant's character. They deserve each other.

In the mush for brains category are the parents who see nothing wrong with the obviously psychotic Brendan. English policemen are made out to be so incompetent that they're unfit to give out traffic tickets. The British Policeman's Union should sue the makers of this film for defamation.

This film isn't worth the electricity it takes to run your DVD to watch it.

The previous review is grossly unfair. It's a reasonably good drama of its type, some normal people and a disruptive presence suddenly appears in their lives, how do they all react? Sure, some of US may have reacted differently and said different things, you could say that of any film or play! The police appear terminally dim? Well, goodness, that's hardly a novelty on film or TV either?! Tennant is suitably nasty as the evil presence, nicely persuasive and threatening when he can't quite get his own way. The parents are well-played, many people want to see the best side of friends and acquaintances, and the sisters are also good performances. There'd have been lots of different possible endings, go with the flow and see what the author chose!