The Perfect Secret | Perfetti Sconosciuti

"Who knows how many couples would break up if one partner could peek at the other's phone?" During dinner, everyone places their smartphones face-up on the table. Every message is read aloud, phone calls are listened to out loud, and every WhatsApp message—no matter how trivial—is shown to the group. What starts as harmless fun soon spirals into an emotional mess. Based on the Italian original film "Perfetti Sconosciuti" by Paolo Genovese | German translation by Sabine Heymann Four friends have been meeting once a month for dinner with their wives since their school days. This time, they are guests of plastic surgeon Rocco and his wife, psychoanalyst Eva. The food is delicious, and the wine is flowing freely. It’s just a shame that Peppe didn’t bring his new partner along. The friends were all very curious about her. And as they discuss their absent buddy Diego, whose marriage unfortunately ended due to a secret affair that was exposed by a text message, Eva remarks: “Who knows how many couples would break up if one partner could take a peek at the other’s cell phone?” After all, the cell phone is the black box of life, where all secrets are stored. And since the friends claim they have no problem at all with revealing the contents of their cell phones, Eva suggests a game: During dinner, everyone places their smartphones face-up on the table. Every message is read aloud, phone calls are listened to out loud, and every WhatsApp message, no matter how small, is shown. What begins as harmless fun soon devolves into an emotional mess—full of surprising twists and delicate revelations. For within this seemingly perfect circle of friends, there are more secrets and white lies than anyone could have expected. “Each of us has three lives: a private one, a public one, and a secret one,” is the line Paolo Genovese uses to open his play. The comedy is based on the 2016 film "Perfetti Sconosciuti," which was a huge success in Italy. It was remade in over 18 countries and also hit German theaters in 2019. The story soon conquered the stage as well and has been a theater hit in German-speaking countries since 2021. Comedy by Paolo Genovese