Tell No One – DVD Review

By Lane Law Mar 27, 2009, 13:10 GMT

Based on Harlan Coben s International best selling novel, Tell No One tells the story of pediatrician Alexandre Beck who still grieves the murder of his beloved wife, Margot, eight years earlier. When two bodies are uncovered near where Margot\'s body was found, the police reopen the case and Alex becomes a suspect again. The mystery deepens when Alex receives an anonymous e-mail with a link to a video clip ...more

French title: Ne le dis à personne. English translation: Tell No One. That's something we don't normally see. Rarely do foreign film titles get distribution here with the actual literal translation of their native title or, in this case, to retain the title of the source novel. 

I guess we're lucky Europacorp seems to have taken such a heavy hand in this release or the title might have been "PORNO NINJAS DO PARIS" or "TRANSPORTER 4" or something equally disturbing.

Speaking of Transporter, you know how you watch one of those movies and see its sweet stunt work and wish it had a good story around it?  Well, "TELL NO ONE" is that good story. 

French filmmaker Guillaume Canet adapted Harlan Coben's 2001 mystery novel for the film. My brother and I were talking recently about how sad it is that most movies in the post-"Sixth Sense" era, if they're trying to have any depth at all, seem to expend all their energy working towards a single twist somewhere late in the third act.

What happened to movies like "The Maltese Falcon" that had twists all over the place? This movie has that.

It does a great job of methodically constructing a world of rich characters with extensive inter-relationships and specific motivations - which serves to aid in the crafting of a solid mystery.  

François Cluzet is the protagonist, Alex, whose wife, Margot (Marie-Josée Croze), is murdered at the beginning. The bulk of our story occurs eight years later where we find Alex has picked up his life as a prominent pediatrician but continues to be haunted by memories of his wife.

The music is hauntingly perfect. Not meaning that the music in and of itself is haunting - it is generally normal music used in a way that gives you back-story, or apprehension, or questions.  Very skillfully handled.

There is only one cue I thought was awkward, a U2 song used when Alex remembers a clue related to U2.  Maybe if they had plugged in a better U2 song for the tone but the one they chose didn't work for me at all.

The imagery is beautifully shot and delivered with colors that pop. Canet's photography department accomplished a camera style that was somehow both subtle and sweeping.  Visuals were almost intoxicating at points and never sacrificing story or character for style or vice versa.

The plot in the movie was expertly built - but what I really loved about it was that the mystery relied on character twists more than plot turns. Pretty much everything that takes place makes sense for character more than serving the end result. The character elements are so strong that they just pull your heart in every direction almost without you realizing you've been grabbed until after it's had its effect. 

There's a sequence in the middle where Alex is evading the police and, while running, slips and busts his face against the asphalt that is just awesome - it's so freakin' real it's hard to believe it's a stunt! In fact it may be an on-set accident but I don't think so since the character's face is turned away from camera in that tell-tale "stunt man" blocking.

As with most of these relatively complex mystery pieces, near the end, there is the inevitable James Bond Villain-type super-explanation that is given to us by a character we find to be in league with the dark side.

And, honestly, it seems like it takes three times longer than any Bond Villain speech ever did, but they definitely pull it off with its own style and give it a fresh, new spin.

This is a great character story with good genre bits mixed in.

The DVD package has a fun gag reel and the ever popular deleted scenes - great for the masses. Mystery lovers should turn off "CSI: The Sea of Tranquility" and pick this up.

Tell No One is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK. Visit the DVD database for more information.