Secrets We Keep review: Addictive and atmospheric, Netflix's Nordic-noir mystery is another Adolescence in the making

Rules don't apply to the rich in Secrets We Keep, the addictive new Nordic-noir series on Netflix. The six-episode thriller unfolds through the perspective of Cecilie, a young mother who lives along with her lawyer husband and their two children in a spectacular lakeside villa in Denmark. Her seemingly idyllic existence is upset by the disappearance of her neighbour Katarina's au pair, a Filipino immigrant named Ruby. Only a day ago, Ruby had approached Cecelie in confidence, and had asked for her help in being extracted from Katarina's home. Something was very wrong, Ruby said. Cecelie awkwardly avoided any trouble, and advised Ruby to raise any concerns that she might have with her employers. Little did she know that Ruby would go missing under mysterious circumstances mere hours later.
Cecelie is somewhat surprised to note how lackadaisical Katarina and her billionaire husband Rasmus are about raising the alarm. Ruby is an adult, they declare; she's free to come and go as she pleases. Katarina, in particular, is upset that Ruby chose the beginning of the new school year to run away; she needs someone to handle her teenage son, Oskar. He's attached at the hip with Cecelie's son, Viggo, who's a couple of years younger. Viggo is very obviously the submissive one in the relationship. Because of their years-long friendship, and the fact that their husbands are colleagues, Cecelie and Katarina often spend evenings together. They drink wine while their husbands discuss money. It's all very patriarchal.
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A slow-burn thriller that addresses class-disparity, toxic masculinity, and the exploitation of cheap labour, Secrets We Keep takes a rather familiar premise and transforms it into something entirely more complex. Cecelie is struck by a bout of white guilt as she immerses herself in Ruby's disappearance. Certain that she saw a pregnancy test in Katarina's garbage the night of Ruby's disappearance, she puts two and two together and decides that Ruby must've been assaulted and impregnated by Katarina's husband, Rasmus. Her own au pair, Angel, doesn't seem to have any idea why Ruby vanished off the face of the earth. The Filipinos have their own community of sorts, and, having understood that they can't count on their privileged employers to fully support them in their search for Ruby, they band together to solve the mystery themselves.
Yes, there is a detective as well. Her name is Aicha, and she approaches the case with her own biases. Aicha is doubly oppressed; not only is she a woman, she's also mixed-race. Like Cecelie, she's convinced that Ruby couldn't simply have run off on her own. She knows that something sinister is afoot, and that Rasmus, with his enormous wealth, is somehow involved. Midway through the series, a paranoid Cecelie begins viewing her own husband with suspicion. Damaging details about his past are unearthed, and their marriage hits rock bottom. She begins to ignore Viggo, a quiet child who's clearly dealing with something.
Secrets We Keep ticks all the boxes; it's culturally specific yet universal in its themes; a significant chunk of it is set in the English language, which would hopefully encourage international audiences to avoid watching a dubbed version; it makes important observations about rather timely topics. The Danes might've deluded themselves into believing that au pairs are part of a sincere exchange programme to build cultural bridges, but it's actually just an excuse to import cheap labour. In order to get the job, Angel lied about not having a child, which Cecelie sees as a gross betrayal. 'I don't want to keep a mother away from her child,' she says, pretending to care. Angel replies, 'You have no idea about where I come from.'
Cecelie wrestles with the idea of decency throughout the series. We are, of course, dealing with a particularly exaggerated form of decency here. What flies in India, for instance, wouldn't in Denmark. But the show goes through great pains to expose insincere empathy. No matter how many times folks like Cecelie and Katarina insist that Angel and Ruby are 'a part of the family', the chasm between their two communities is so vast that they cannot even comprehend it. For instance, Cecelie appears to be shocked at the idea of a mother having to leave her child behind to go to work, but doesn't recognise the irony of hiring an au pair to look after her own kids.
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The mystery at the centre of Secrets We Keep is engrossing, but the show wisely spends the time necessary to flesh out all the central characters. Towards the end, Secrets We Keep transforms into a sort of spiritual sequel to the recent Netflix breakout hit Adolescence. Enough clues are peppered throughout the show's run about what's going on under Cecelie and Katarina's eyes, but they're far too concerned about appearances to pay attention. Either covertly or overtly, not a single male character in the show is morally pure. Secrets We Keep ends on a memorable note; the climax isn't just satisfying on a narrative level, but it's fittingly austere departure from the sanitised storytelling that Netflix's American and Indian offshoots regularly dole out.
Secrets We Keep
Creator – Ingeborg Topsøe
Cast – Marie Bach Hansen, Simon Sears, Excel Busano, Sara Fanta Traore, Danica Curcic
Rating – 4/5
Rohan Naahar is an assistant editor at Indian Express online. He covers pop-culture across formats and mediums. He is a 'Rotten Tomatoes-approved' critic and a member of the Film Critics Guild of India. He previously worked with the Hindustan Times, where he wrote hundreds of film and television reviews, produced videos, and interviewed the biggest names in Indian and international cinema. At the Express, he writes a column titled Post Credits Scene, and has hosted a podcast called Movie Police.
You can find him on X at @RohanNaahar, and write to him at rohan.naahar@indianexpress.com. He is also on LinkedIn and Instagram. ... Read More

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