7/19/08

Tell No One

"Ne le dis à personne" is one of the most confidently directed movies I have had the pleasure to watch! This French (with English subtitles) movie is still in first-run houses, the release date for the DVD hasn't been announced. The director, Guillaume Canet, has been around for awhile, but I am not familiar with him or his work.

On the other hand, Francois Cluzet ("French Kiss" and "Ready to Wear"), the wonderful actor who portrays a busy pediatrician, is a more familiar face, as is Kristin Scott Thomas ("Four Weddings and a Funeral," "The Horse Whisperer," and "The English Patient") who has a principal role -- and speaks French fluently, as she is married to a Frenchman and lives there.

Our story begins with the pediatrician and his much-loved wife on an outing at a lakeside cabin. After skinny dipping with him one night, she climbs out to go to their cabin, while he prepares to follow. She cries for help from the underbrush and he is brutally whacked on the head with a baseball bat. After three days in a coma, he awakens to discover that her corpse has been found, the victim of a serial killer.

Eight years later, still single, he is quietly involved in his medical practice when he receives a mysterious e-mail advising him to "tell no one" about the attached video clip which is a film of a woman who appears to be his long-dead wife. Naturally he is vitally concerned and step by step we watch him become more and more deeply embroiled in a tangled web of lies, deception and violence.

This film has NO wasted dialogue, NO unnecessary scenes, NO careless editing. It is exciting, involving and leaves no questions unanswered. It sweeps us along as our man, still in love with his long-deceased wife, tries with dogged determination and uncommon intelligence to untangle an eight-year-old (closed) murder case. His task is complicated by a Colombo-like police detective, played by Francois Berleand ("The Transporter" and "The Chorus"), who reopens the case and is convinced that our hero is somehow implicated.

There are a number of plot twists but each makes sense and is consistent with the character of the person doing the twisting. There are a number of beautifully staged chase and street scenes that are brilliantly executed, along with high caliber acting every single minute. Cluzet's pediatrician is a person you WILL root for and this satisfying movie is one you will remember for a long time.

I will watch for other movies by this director!