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Tell No One

By Aly Semigran

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Jul. 9, 2008

When it comes to thrillers with a romantic subplot, American filmmakers have really lost their mojo. With films like Derailed, Rendition and every Ashley Judd movie ever, it's been tough for moviegoers to find a film that will keep them on the edge of their seats while still introducing memorable characters.

Of course leave it up to the French to one-up us. Tell No One is a smart, sophisticated and yes, romantic thriller by actor-turned-director Guillaume Canet. (You may recall him from that horrid post-Titanic Leo DiCaprio film The Beach.) The film follows pediatrician and assumed widower Alexandre Beck--played by the oddly Dustin Hoffman-like Francois Cluzet--as he deals with the loss of his missing-and-presumed-to-be-dead wife Margot (luminous Marie-Jos�e Croze of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly). Eight years to the day after Margot's disappearance, he begins receiving anonymous videos of his decidedly not dead wife and warnings that he's being watched.

Tell No One

Director: Guillaume Canet
B+
Opens: Fri., July 11 Reviewed by Aly Semigran

Beck, originally accused of his wife's murder, is being watched. And followed. And taunted. But by whom? As the film progresses, he begins to untangle the mystery at the same pace that clues are offered to viewers, creating an interesting and easy--but not too easy--plot.

Like many mysteries before it, the key to Tell No One is a lead male struggling with a harrowing burden, and Croze's performance is both heartbreaking and layered. But what makes this film stand out is its excellent supporting cast, which includes Kristin Scott Thomas and Marina Hands (also of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), and its thrilling action sequences, the best being an intense foot chase ending on a highway.

With cleverly crafted storylines keeping viewers guessing until the end, Tell No One is the finest whodunit since Mystic River.