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Netflix's Secrets We Keep (Reservatet), a Danish thriller, centers around an upper-class gated community beyond Copenhagen. Behind the sleek exteriors and designer decor is a world of secrets, betrayals, and crushing silence.
The six-part drama follows the story of a young au pair who disappears from one of the houses. Written by Ina Bruhn and Mads Tafdrup and directed by Per Fly, the series presents a tightly constructed story that strips away the layers of entitlement and complicity in a society failing its most marginalized members.
Developed by Ingeborg Topsøe (Wildland, Hanna), Secrets We Keep employs the conventions of domestic suspense to comment on the real-world power dynamics of class, immigration, and gender.
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Netflix’s Secrets We Keep was filmed in and around Copenhagen, Denmark, using real suburban locations to reflect the show’s upscale, tension-filled setting.
Details on Secrets We Keep's filming locations explored
Secrets We Keep was shot in Denmark, mainly in and around Copenhagen and the city's wealthy suburban neighborhoods. The producers deliberately filmed the show in locations that resemble the upscale setting where the drama unfolds.
The area of the series, typified by minimalist exteriors, tidy streets, and modern interiors, closely resembles some of Denmark's most affluent residential neighborhoods.
The show effectively uses real houses, gardens, and local parkland to set an immersive atmosphere that is real and inhabited.
Although the show does not specifically refer to suburbs, the visual environment implies that suburbs north of Copenhagen, with high-earning residents and contemporary housing, were likely used as the setting.
The environment is essential to the tension of the story, as the contrast between lovely scenery and the darkness of what has unfolded highlights the show's greatest themes of privilege, denial, and complicity.
Interior scenes, especially in the Winther-Jensens' and the Hoffmans' homes, were shot in real homes instead of on studio sets.
Who stars in Secrets We Keep?
The Secrets We Keep cast includes some of Denmark's most famous actors, all of whom have appeared in other Scandinavian dramas. Marie Bach Hansen (The Legacy) is the show's lead as Cecilie Winther-Jensen, a two-time mom whose life starts to fall apart after her friend's au pair goes missing.
Her husband, Mike, played by Simon Sears (Shadow and Bone), has secrets of his own that muddy the investigation. Lars Ranthe (Another Round) plays Rasmus Hoffman, Cecilie's rich and spoiled next-door neighbor.
Danica Curcic (The Chestnut Man) plays Rasmus's wife Kat Hoffman, whose maternal instincts turn dark. Excel Busano plays Angel, the Winther-Jensens' au pair from the Philippines, and Donna Levkovski plays Ruby, the missing au pair who is at the center of the mystery.
Frode Bilde Rønsholt and Lukas Zuperka complete the cast as Oscar and Viggo, the adolescent boys whose decisions and actions become the focus of the developing drama.
Sara Fanta Traore (The Nurse) appears as Detective Aicha Petersen, whose quest for answers into the disappearance of Ruby uncovers the worst-kept secrets within the community.
What happens in Secrets We Keep?
The Secrets We Keep story starts with a family dinner attended by Cecilie, her friends, and her family. Ruby, the Hoffman family au pair, confides in Cecilie that she wishes to quit her job, but Cecilie tells her to talk to her employers directly. The next morning, Ruby is gone.
Overcome by suspicion and guilt, Cecilie takes it upon herself to conduct a private investigation, questioning her friends and coming face-to-face with unpleasant realities.
As the narrative unfolds, we learn that Ruby was pregnant, and her death, initially suspected to be suicide, was possibly murder.
The show builds up slowly to a shocking revelation about Kat and her teenage son Oscar.
By Cecilie's paranoia and Detective Aicha's dogged questioning, Secrets We Keep explores how money and status can be used as tools of abuse to escape responsibility.
Ruby's death serves as a prism to examine how the show is critiquing not only a family's desperate attempts to salvage their reputation but also a larger system that allows for immigrant voices to be silenced.
While fictional, it taps into actual aspects of Danish culture, particularly the extensive use of au pairs from the Philippines, to create a believable cultural landscape.
Interested viewers can watch Secrets We Keep on Netflix.
