a secret relationship is seldom exposed by grand gestures. instead, it's habit that betrays them; the accumulation of microscopic giveaways from stolen glances to subconscious shenanigans and caught indulging the slightest touches. what's hard to notice for us, is deafening to the couple trying not to slip up and panic ensues!
so, let's pick apart these clips from 2019 through the secret relationship angle...
clip #1: we see this thing vale always does, post-divorce especially, whenever he wants to steal glances at marc, he pretends to be (very exaggeratedly) looking over at something.
clip #2: vale is so sensitive to marc's every move that as soon as the latter leans over, he's comically almost on top of jack miller trying not to make accidental contact with marc lol.
clip #3: as soon as he gets up, marc is eyeing a window to make contact with vale. instead of quickly tucking his chair in and moving into position for the photo, he hovers between their two chairs. vale then seems to get the message and snaps into place. they brush each other a bit and only then does marc proceed (they're not new to this, x). even thereafter, they continue to not-so-subtly hover with zero personal space.
and you can tell they're painfully conscious of each other by the mirroring that happens, where they're the only ones adjusting their shirts at the same time, in the same fashion, swaying into each other. the mirroring bleeds into their poses --- marc's hands behind his back and vale's at his front.
clip #4: in the close-up shot, we catch marc smoothly inching his way closer to vale.
clip #1: vale snaps his head closer in marc's direction and the latter immediately starts fidgeting.
clip #2:
Q: what would you normally have for dinner after a long race day?
M: "Normally every Sunday, when I arrive at home---" marc's hand subconsciously seems to point at vale (which vale notices) before he has to wrangle it back down, folding his arms tightly to stop further reflexive shenanigans. but then the stuttering begins lol --- this isn't the first time marc's struggles to get his words out when thinking about vale (x), specifically when recalling a time well-spent together (x)
"---I order pizza...yeah...because I-I like it and uhh...yeah...uh...it's something that we deserve it....and uh....desert always, uh, chocolate ice-cream...[hesitates] I-I like it and, uh, it's something that after a great weekend, we deserve it"
the way he leans back at the end leaves you wondering how such a straightforward answer to a simple question clearly took a lot out of him. in the following wide-shot, we see vale frozen in place and i think that curious transition from 'I' to 'we' is what does it lol.
just looking at them side-by-side is the picture of a secret couple trying to recuperate after letting something incriminating slip. it's so minor, it'd never be caught (unless you're analysing these clips 10 years later...) so nothing worth stressing over. but when you're so brazenly hiding something (like spending your post-race time at enjoying pizza and ice-cream at home with the guy next to you), every misstep seems louder than it is.
fun fact: vale loves gelato and even has a machine for it in his motorhome (x) and pizza's a standard celebratory meal but hey, i'll take the italian connection anyway.
clip #3: always appreciate when we're gifted HD shots of marc drinking vale in as he answers a question. another example of him indulging any excuse to stare (or as we saw earlier, touch); vale does it too (x).
clip #4: vale's doing that thing again of pretending to look over but really, watching marc in his periphery. as evidenced by how marc starts picking his nails and vale starts mirroring it immediately after.
for some time up to this point, vale hadn't been fidgeting at all like he usually does. especially during presscons, this fidgeting exchange is a well-documented occurrence --- one starts and the other follows.
clip #5: they briefly exchange a look in the middle of vale being way too giddy over a joke about a couple having a domestic on a press panel.
clip #6: marc does that thing of snapping his head back to the front as vale makes even the slightest move to glance in his general direction. vale then does the other thing of leaning over to steal peripheral glances at marc (twice).
clip #7: vale does that thing of almost instinctually conversing with marc before snapping his head away. we've seen this film before (x). again, if you've watched a bunch of these, you'll pick up on how common this subtle (sometimes shamelessly overt) is.
clip #8: at the end of presscons, vale is either beelining for the door too soon (x) or hovering confusedly, which is the one he picks here. this time, his hyperconsciousness of marc is on display as he gravitates to him. in the midst of all that shuffling, you can see he's looking to marc, who seems to know where to go next, for cues. the shuffling is an effort to obscure who his focus is on.