Tell No One (2008)

Tell No One is based on Harlan Coben's international best-selling thriller--that's all you need to know. If you are into that, cool. Or maybe you just want to shut the mind off and watch some easy entertainment...cool. It may even be fair to say Tell No One is slightly more sophisticated in its execution-story wise and directorially--than some other movies of its ilk. Though there is the unchangeable fact that It is high anxiety, cliché riddled, mainstream schlock. Though the film does contain Jeff Buckley's rendition of "Lilac Wine," so there is that.

Guillaume Canet writes, directs and appears in 'Tell No One' from Harlan Coben's novel, a dizzyingly complex thriller that will keep you guessing right to the end. There is a big cast of characters to keep track of, to the point that confusion will definitely creep in if you are not concentrating, but Canet's excellent film deserves your full attention. François Cluzet is highly watchable as the pawn at the centre of the mind-boggling machinations that spiral around him (French crime drama pun intended), and there is an excellent array of Gallic thesps all in good form. Worthy of particular note are Marie-Josée Croze very engaging as Cluzet's screen wife; André Dussollier as his terminally grumpy father-in-law; Kristin Scott Thomas his sister; a beautifully laconic François Berléand as the dogged cop; and the wonderful Gilles Lellouche with a convincing gangster turn. The film's plot is every bit as labyrinthine as LA Confidential or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - if crime thrillers are your bag, this is an excellent example.

No one saw Guillaume Canet, the handsome Frenchy from "The Beach", coming but his adaptation of Harlam Coben's "Tell No One" took everyone by surprise, revealing one of the most promising directorial talents of his generation. Like, USA has now Ben Affleck, France had Guillaume Canet.And reviewing "Tell No One" can't do without praising the well-crafted directing job: the long extended shots, a clever editing showing you exactly what you need to know at the right moment, a sensitive use of flashbacks, effective close-ups on computer screens, on men watching and being watched, to better accentuate the paranoid feeling and last but not least, a breath-taking foot chase taking us from the top of a building to Paris' peripheral road and concluding in the Clignancourt market. This is "The French Connection" and "Marathon Man" in one sequence that certainly earned Canet his César (French Oscar) for Best Director.My mention of "Marathon Man" isn't fortuitous; it takes me back to the performance of François Cluzet who, like American audiences pointed out, shares an uncanny resemblance with Dustin Hoffman. Cluzet is the one who carries the film, and this is saying a lot with the whole star-studded cast surrounding him, from Guillaume Canet himself as the son of a powerful man played by movie veteran Jean Rochefort, the kind of respectable figures à la 'Noah Cross', from Nathalie Baye as the influential lawyer, to François Berléand and Kristin Scott Thomas who shares a lesbian relationship with Cluzet's sister in the fill, it's a whole spot-the-star game that could have damaged the film's credibility a serious drama. But accusing "Tell No One" of 'commerciality' by insertion of prestigious names in the credits, would unfairly overlook the two real strengths of the film besides the directing: Cluzet's performance and the writing.Granted Cluzet has never been regarded on the same level as a Gérard Depardieu or a Jean Reno, and this is probably due to his ordinary-looking appearance. But for the film, it's perfect. Cluzet plays Alexandre Beck, a doctor married with his childhood love Margot (Marie-Josée Croze). During a pivotal night, after a romantic skin-dipping in a pond, an argument starts, she swims ashore and while he climbs the ladder after hearing her scream. We only know the aftermath from a poignant flashback, Margot's body was discovered dead, severely mutilated, she was recognized by her father, a cop played by Andre Dussolier, and then cremated. There was no explanation about how Back didn't fall in the pond, but Margot was dead for sure, until a mysterious mail lead Alexandre to believe that there are some loose ends in the 'official version'.The quest for the truth is paralleled by eavesdropping moments indicating that Alexandre isn't the only one to believe his wife is still alive, and the Police join the game when one of Alexandre's friends is brutally killed. Naturally, Alexandre is suspected of two murders, including his wife, and he has no other choice than running away from policemen and his mysterious observers, seeking some providential assistance from his lawyer or a thug who conveniently carries the right weapons, any help is welcome for Alexandre if he can reach his wife. And in this nightmarishly paranoid dog-and-cat-and-mouse chase, Cluzet finds the perfect note as a no-nonsense man who's both passive and active in a way that inevitably our sympathy empathy, even more in the powerful moments where he has clear evidence of his wife being alive.Cluzet, who won the Best Actor César, for the role, had his career revived as a Travolta's post "Pulp Fiction" period, becoming a sure value of French Cinema, starring in the most popular recent movies, including "Untouchables" and it's a credit to Guillaume Canet to have contributed to that. But there's more than the acting, the script also contributes to balance the effects of obligatory formula, thanks to a clever trick consisting on duplicating each figure which fits a story that opens with a mistaken identity. One of the thugs looks like Alexandre, you have a good cop and a bad one, one believes in Alexandre's guilt since police found out the evidence in his house, but like Berleand (the wiser cop) asked: why would a man who made a perfect murder be so silly to keep the gun and wait patiently for the police to come at him? A similar moment occurs when the prosecutor states that Alexandre signed his own guilt by running away, an opinion immediately dismissed by the lawyer. The film respects our intelligence by putting its own elements into perspective.Having said that, there's no need to details the plot, which hides more revelations and twists that you'll ever expect, but the way Canet brilliantly and confidently pulls the strings of our nerves to assemble each piece of the puzzle one by one until the climactic revelation is a masterstroke a few directors achieved in a whole career. That's the kind of thrillers where nothing is hazardous, each element, no matter how futile it seems, Alexandre saving one little boy, a smile at a cyber room, anything serves the plot without feeling forced, and even after a second viewing, you start noticing new details of this multi-layered experience. Naturally, being an adaptation of an American novel, from a director who was obviously nourished by American classics, "Tell No One" might be accused of mimicking American cinema, a criticism often held against French movies. But no one can deny the authentic Parisian vibes you get from the film, and no one can accuse of copycatting one of the first films to use Internet technology as a significant plot device. "Tell No One" is indeed THE French thriller tailor-made for the 2000's and being a commercial success, doesn't make it 'commercial' for all that. And I left the theater with a great satisfaction, after a heart-pounding and emotionally satisfying experience, thinking in myself, that's the kind of movie that makes me love movies.

I have read the book, before the film. I was not receptive to a "subtitle" adaptation forgive my anglo selfishness! Some 4 years after the film was released I sat down and was blown away, I liked the book a lot (even though it was not a Myron Bolitar novel), the change to France actually seemed to enhance the story. The leading man was compelling, in my mind all of the changes worked from the book, it also helps the film stand on it's own. All of the cast were completely convincing, I think Kirstin Scott Thomas is an intense presence even though her role is supporting. The action scenes were I feel downplayed to normal Hollywood fare and as a result I found them more convincing with greater impact.I enjoyed the twists even though I knew they were coming, I have recommended this film endlessly and will continue to do so.