ABSTRACT
As in the analysis of A Tale of Two Sisters, the film's revelation of one secret may simultaneously operate as subterfuge, that is, a means to occlude the existence of another secret whose preservation ultimately drives the film's unique patterned form of representation. From the outset, several elements of the film hint that the secret of Grace's madness may involve a saga other than the one specifically revealed at the end of the film. Anne mentions several times that her mother "went mad," suggesting it is a veiled aspect of the film's secret. This chapter argues that the film's meticulous presentation of Grace's fantasy stages a secret about an unutterable drama that is quite different from the murder-suicide. The secret of her murder-suicide inscribes within it a story about a concealed intruder whose penetration into a family leads to devastating family shame.
