Burning Secret

Burning Secret is a 1988 drama film, based on the short story Brennendes Geheimnis by Stefan Zweig, about an American diplomat's son who befriends a mysterious baron while staying at an Austrian spa during the 1920s. This symbol-filled story, filmed with sensuous detail and nuance, is set in Austria in the 1920s. While being treated for asthma at a country spa, an American diplomat's lonely 12-year-old son is befriended and infatuated by a suave, mysterious baron. During a story of his war experiences, the baron reveals the scar of a wound from an American soldier and thrusts a pin through it, saying "see—no feeling." Little does the boy realize that it is his turn to be wounded. But soon his adored friend heartlessly brushes him aside and turns his seductive attentions to his mother. The boy's jealousy and feelings of betrayal become uncontrollable.

Burning Secret
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAndrew Birkin
Written byAndrew Birkin
Stefan Zweig
Produced byCarol Lynn Greene
StarringKlaus Maria Brandauer
Faye Dunaway
David Eberts
Ian Richardson
John Nettleton
CinematographyErnest Day
Edited byPaul Green
Music byHans Zimmer
Distributed byVestron Pictures Ltd.
Release date
  • 22 December 1988 (1988-12-22)
Running time
106 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom
West Germany
LanguageEnglish
Box office172,000 (Germany)
£9,542 (UK)[1]

The film was written and directed by Andrew Birkin, and stars Klaus Maria Brandauer, Faye Dunaway, and David Eberts. The film won the Young Jury Prize at the Brussels Film Festival in 1989, and David Eberts won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival in the same year.

According to Birkin, the making of the movie "was something of a nightmare" with the two lead actors thoroughly disliking one another and other problems while shooting on location in Mariánské Lázně while directing young David Eberts was "a joy".[2]

The film was only composer Hans Zimmer's second feature film scoring.

Lions Gate Home Entertainment has yet to release the film onto DVD.

See also

References
  1. "Back to the Future: The Fall and Rise of the British Film Industry in the 1980s - An Information Briefing" (PDF). British Film Institute. 2005. p. 20.
  2. "Video description text on Andrew Birkin's YouTube Channel". YouTube. 2021. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2021.


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