[3][4] Two Parisian girls, Nathalie, a stripper at a bar, and Sandrine, a bartender, conspire to climb the social ladder of Paris when they start living together.

They aim to seduce their bosses and get promoted, which Sandrine accomplishes with co-founder Monsieur Delacroix after becoming his secretary, but much ambiguity surrounds Nathalie.

Christophe, the CEO's son and future heir to the banking corporation, is very handsome and the final target for both girls to seduce, but his reputation is devastating.

After being covertly disciplined, Delacroix will retain his job title and continue to work for the company, but, officially, on paper (to which only Christophe has access) he has been fired.

After flaunting his wealth, Christophe reveals his plan: to marry Sandrine with a formal wedding to convince his dying father that he is a reformed man and thus will gain complete control over the corporation.

[1] Dave Kehr of The New York Times compared the film's bluntness negatively to the work of Éric Rohmer and said it is more interested in titillation than intellectualism; however, he wrote, "But there is no denying the force of Mr. Brisseau's bizarre imagination and the personal conviction he brings to it.

"[8] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle rated it two out of four stars and wrote that the film's excessive focus on sex "numbs the audience" but it never becomes boring.

[10] Ty Burr of The Boston Globe wrote that the film "hints at a place where desire, fear, pleasure, and power all intersect, but it never actually goes there".

[11] Tom Dawson stated in his review for the BBC, "If the stylised Secret Things can be seen as both a tale of female empowerment and a class allegory, it still resembles a voyeuristic male fantasy in its depictions of lesbian sex, threesomes, stripteases and public masturbation.