The most amusing screen credit of the year so far: “Based on the novel ‘Thérèse Raquin’ by Emile Zola . . . screenplay by Charlie Stratton.” Thanks to Monsieur Stratton (credits include an appearance on “Matlock” and a directing gig on an episode of “Revenge”), “In Secret” is likely to remain safe from prying eyes.
Elizabeth Olsen and Jessica Lange have themselves a scream-off as a 19th-century French orphan and the aunt who raises her to be the bride of her sickly, coughing and extremely dull son (Tom Felton, formerly known as Draco Malfoy). As Lange once did, Olsen’s Thérèse gets all “Postman Rings Twice” with a hunky painter played by Oscar Isaac (not a guy I would call upon to read as “French,” “19th century” or “irresistible”). The two of them wonder if maybe life would be better if she weren’t married, but murder is easier to pull off than divorce.
Your average episode of “Days of Our Lives” is less soapy (and performed with more restraint). Lange at least gets to have a stroke, which gives her some nice clawing and grimacing to occupy her time while we wait for the transgressing couple’s fell scheme to turn to ashes. Hey, what’s French for cliché?