Ne le Dis a Personne (2006)

Great Movie

My wife and I saw this movie last week and we both thought it was excellent - we highly recommend it. She read the novel twice and felt the translation of it to the screen was terrific and captured all the key points of the storyline. In addition, I though the main character did a very good job and in many ways he reminded me of Dustin Hoffman. July 14, 2008

To Die for Love

Alexandre Beck (heretofore a perpetual second banana in comedies but here definitely the distraught, crazed, put-upon, conflicted hero, François Cluzet) seems to have it all: a great and loving family, a beautiful and loving wife, Margot (played by Marie Croze) and even a big faithful dog to fill out his life.
Director Guilluame Canet (the erratic but full of life, "Les Jeux Enfants" and the chilly yet warm even sentimental, "Joyeux Noel") begins this film with an outdoor family dinner: everyone enjoying the food, the wine, the children, dogs romping around, everyone having a great time yet the music playing on the soundtrack is Otis Redding's "For Your Precious Love" a doleful plea for love and acceptance which cuts away at the sunny, family-positive scene that it underscores; thus setting up psychological friction between the scene we are watching and the music which is underscoring it. Things are not as they seem. Something is amiss.
Based on a novel by American Thriller writer, Harlan Cohen much of the film plays like a classic American Thriller ("D.O.A" and "Chinatown") but filtered through the intelligence of screenwriters Canet and Philippe Lefebvre). In fact the tone of "Tell No One" feels very much like a Roman Polanski film: as in the aforementioned "Chinatown" or "Knife in the Water": all complex stories which involve big mysteries and bigger love stories as well.
In a scene involving murder and mayhem, Margot is killed. For a short period of time the Police suspect Alexandre but this is soon dispelled and life goes on for Alex, who eventually becomes a Pediatrician but never marries: he pines and mourns for Margot even 8 years after the fact. Then one day he gets an e-mail showing a very much alive Margot...or so it seems.
Perhaps there are a few too many plot upheavals here but Canet and Lefebvre keep the business of the film moving along coherently. On hand are a number of French actors who contribute, in small roles, to the truthfulness and humanity of this film: Nathalie Baye, Jean Rochefort and Kristin Scott Thomas (who speaks beautiful idiomatic Parisian French).
Harlen Cohen has said that he is a fan of "stories that move you, that grab hold of your heart and do not let it go." There is no doubt that with Canet as his partner he has gotten his wish with "Tell No One."
July 13, 2008

A solid, entertaining and mostly well-crafted thriller

Tell No-One turns out to be a rather good French thriller and a distinct improvement on actor-director Guillaume Canet's first directorial effort Mon Idole. The early overhead shots of a couple driving through the countryside summon up echoes of Red Lights, Harry, He's Here to Help and The Vanishing in particular (though the film doesn't really match up to them, at least his influences are impeccable) as it sets up the back-story that sees Francois Cluzet's wife murdered. Fast forward eight years and the good doctor is still suspected by the police, especially when two bodies are unearthed near the murder scene that threaten his alibi. And then there's an email he receives with what looks like live footage of his very much alive wife...

There's a good supporting cast - a mostly excellent Andre Dussolier as the antagonistic father-in-law, Jean Rochefort showing once again that he's a much better actor when he doesn't dye his hair to look younger, Nathalie Baye as a razor-sharp lawyer, 36 Quai des Orfevres director Olivier Marchal as a vicious killer and even a less-autopilot-than-usual Kristin Scott-Thomas (maybe she should just stick to French-language parts?) - and it's a surprise to see Luc Besson's Europa Films making something so bourgeois that doesn't involve free-running or martial arts for a change, although there is one excellent chase sequence and a vicious female thug to keep his core constituency happy.

If it has a problem - apart from one credulity-straining moment near the end regarding motivation that isn't so much a plot-hole as the Channel Tunnel - it's that at the end of the day, it's JUST a thriller. There aren't enough lingering questions throughout the movie or any real attempt to create doubt as to whether the hero may really have murdered his wife as the police and media still suspect. The twists are satisfying enough but no great revelations, and it's a disappointment that it finds itself forced into an Irving-the-Explainer ending where the plot is explained at gunpoint. Yet despite the lack of depth, it's a satisfyingly well-executed thriller, and if that's enough for you, you could do a lot worse with two hours of your time. Oh yes, and the eagle-eyed can spot one of French producer Christophe Rossingnon's sporadic blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameos as a cop.

The French PAL DVD has English subtitles while there'a also a good UK PAL two-disc release with plentiful extras (20 deleted scenes, a 55-minute making of documentary, out-takes, brief soundbite interviews with Guillaume Canet and Kristin Scott Thomas, UK trailer, the last takes of the various key players on the film and an earlier short film directed by Canet, I Can't Sleep).
January 23, 2008

A STORY OF GUILTINESS

Four French Academy awards in 2006. This film, based on a novel by Harlan Coben, is simply one of the best French movies of 2006. This movie can be found with English subtitles at Amazon.fr in a zone 2 edition. October 6, 2007

somewhat it's just not credible

Childhood friends Alex and Margot (Francois Cluzet and Marie-Josee Croze) are happily married. One day, she is found dead; her father (Andre Dussolier) identifies her. The mutilations on her body leave no doubt that she was killed by a serial killer who confessed to eight murders, but always denied having killed Margot. Soon, the case is closed.
Eight years later, two bodies are found near the place where Margot's body was and the case is re-opened. At the same time, Alex, a pediatrician, receives an email in which he recognizes Margot. He will investigate the matter further and find out why she was murdered, that is, IF she was killed.

While the book was absolutely fantastic, gave a great atmosphere and actually gave me shivers, this movie failed. It was too slow, too weak and some of the characters' responses were somewhat not credible.

The actors gave a good performance. The only deception is Dussolier, Margot's father, who slightly overacts, especially in the scene where he confronts Alex. Kristin Scott Thomas is quite a surprise, I never realized how good her French was!

As a second film for actor-now-director Guillaume Canet, this wasn't too bad. (Canet even has a small part in this film.) He shows potential as a director.

The music of this film is horrible. The sound quality was rather lousy and the music was much too loud compared to the actors' voices. It made the film very hard to follow.

Still not a bad thriller.
Yet certainly not the best French film ever done, but still enjoyable. August 5, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...