The Secret in Their Eyes (2009) Parents Guide & Movie Info
The Secret in Their Eyes Poster

The Secret in Their Eyes - Family Review

Hoping to put to rest years of unease concerning a past case, retired criminal investigator Benjamín begins writing a novel based on the unsolved mystery of a newlywed’s rape and murder. With the help of a former colleague, judge Irene, he attempts to make sense of the past.

2009 | 129 Minutes

Rated R for a rape scene, violent images, some graphic nudity and language
IMDB: 8.2 ⭐️ Votes: 210,745

Content Warnings

  • Sexual Content
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    A man takes out his penis and shows it to a woman. This is shown very clearly.

    A rape scene (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details) shows the bare back of a man as he kneels over a woman in a bed, he pulls his pants down below bare buttocks, rips away the woman's tank top to reveal her breasts and abdomen, and we see thrusting motions, as the woman groans and cries; later we see the crime scene where the woman is shown badly scraped over her entire body and she is almost entirely nude (we see her lying on her back with her genital area covered with a sheet corner, and her panties down around one ankle).

    A man and a woman embrace lightly twice and kiss very briefly once.

    A female court officer states that vaginal penetration in a rape case was very deep.

    Throughout the film, instances of unrequited love are mentioned in conversations: loveless marriages, high school crushes, a man widowed early in marriage and never remarrying, and an older court counselor in love with a younger, married female court supervisor; one male character states several times that no one can abandon his or her passion.

    A comment is made about a high school boy that seems to look at a high school girl often and with passion in his eyes, as if he is in love with her.

    A courthouse employee dispatches unwanted business calls by answering the phone falsely as "Sperm Bank; do you want to make a deposit or a withdrawal?"

    A man searches another man's room and finds magazine photos of bare-chested men.

    We see the back of a man at a urinal in a men's room (he is clothed), in one toilet stall; we see an older man with his trousers down (he has long white shorts and bare knees).

  • Violence
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    In a rape scene (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details), a man rips away a woman's top and rapes her: her face is bloody, forehead to chin, and in a flashback we see the man pick her up in his arms and drive her head into a wall (we see no marks or blood); we later see the crime scene, where the woman is shown badly scraped over her entire body and she lies on her back and her face is bloody. Several black and white photographs of a rape and murder victim's face are seen throughout the film -- about 5 times.

    A man asleep in a living room armchair at night wakes to loud knocking at the door, three men enter, the man goes into the bedroom, sits on the bed and we see one of the other men shoot at the bed with an automatic rifle several times, pause, and fire one last time: we later see the man on the bed dead, a gaping wound in his forehead and several in his chest, with dried blood covering his face, chest and right arm.

    A man strikes another man in the face with a crowbar (we see no damage but this is shown twice), forces the second man into a car with him, and drives to an isolated area by a railroad track, stands outside the car and when a train comes, walks to the car trunk, opens it, and fires a gun into what appears to be the body a man (shown 3 times).

    A suspect is chased through crowded soccer stands, he hides in a men's restroom, jumps out at one man who was chasing him, slams him back against a wall, runs away, police join the chase, he jumps over a wall, injuring his leg, stumbles onto the field, is struck by a running player, falls (he has a bloody face), and is surrounded by barking dogs and police carrying nightsticks.

    Two men are found in a dark and dirty jail cell, sitting on the floor: their faces, arms and wrists are covered in blood, welts and bruises from having confessions beaten out of them, and another man shouts and runs toward the warden and is restrained by guards.

    A man in an elevator with two another man and a woman pulls out a handgun with a flourish, loads a magazine, and places the gun into the waistband of his trousers as the woman trembles and the other man seems angry.

    A man is nipped on the ankle by a small dog, off camera, and we hear the dog yelp and see it fly across a door opening, as if it had been kicked.

    Two police officers struggle with a man, pulling him out of a room; there's unintelligible shouting after the shoving of a man had occurred.

    We hear several cases involving murder, rape, and assault being discussed over a courthouse phone.

    Several arguments with name-calling occur in different scenes; one argument in a restaurant ends with police escorting one man away.

  • Profanity
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    There is one reference to c*cksucking while name calling.

    About 28 'f' words (and its derivatives). At least 10 occurences of "Christ," "Jesus," and "God" (collectively). 17 scatological references, 9 anatomical references, and 19 mild obscenities.

    Name-calling (moron, nuts, old lady, crazy, insane, idiot, imbecile, retard, dimwit, stupid, silly, angel, chump, stuck up, incompetent, untouchable, party pooper, Twinkie, Amazon, Pygmy, prostitute, drunk, schmuck, zero, Napoleon Solo, Mike Hammer, Perry Mason, Fascist, Nazi),

    23 stereotypical references to Africans, women, Argentines, judges, homosexuals, the rich, the poor, college graduates, senior citizens,

  • Intense Scenes
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    This movie is filled with intensity.

    There are many intense scenes throughout.

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