Rivette has passed seventy yet remains forever young and in Secret défense he tackles a crime thriller, inspired by Hitchcock’s Vertigo. In the narrative structure and the way in which Rivette poses his question, the hand of the master is clearly visible. He uses the stereotypes of the genre – such as the admirer who always turns up at the wrong moment or the mother with a secret – and undermines them.The heroine is Sylvie (30, a scientist) who receives a visit from her brother Paul. He wants to borrow a revolver from her to avenge the death of their father, who was killed in an accident five years previously. Paul refuses to say why he thinks it was murder or who he suspects of the crime. Several days later, a young woman, Veronique, pays Sylvie a visit andsays that Paul has threatened their father’s former business partner, Walser. After Sylvie has been to see Walser, she hears that Paul has had a strange accident. In the hospital Paul gives her more information: It does indeed look as if Walser was responsible for their father’s ‘accident’. Sylvie decides that she will avenge his death now. She travels to Langres, in Eastern France, where Walser has a house. But there she accidentally kills Veronique. Walser seems to become her partner in crime.
