“Tell No One” (2006)

It’s been a good year for non-English language thrillers.  Hard on the heels of the Argentinian masterpiece “The Secret in Their Eyes” and released in between the first two Swedish adaptations of Steig Larsson’s millennium trilogy, comes the French “Tell No One”.  Originally in European cinemas back in 2006 - and, to be honest, long out on DVD in this country - “Tell No One” more than justifies a big screen watch.

It’s based on a novel by the popular American author Harlan Coben.  François Cluzet - a Gallic Dustin Hoffman in looks, if not acting style - plays paediatrician Alexandre Beck, a man haunted by the brutal, unsolved murder of his wife and childhood sweetheart Margot eight years earlier.  Beck is forced to reexamine the circumstances surrounding the homicide when two further bodies dating from its period are found in the same region, his family’s country estate.  Long a suspect, the corpses reignite police interest in him as the potential murderer.  At the same time Beck receives a pair of anonymous emails which suggest that his spouse may still be alive.

“Tell No One” does everything a good thriller should, sustaining audience interest with a suspenseful, well paced narrative that drip feeds information, keeping you guessing.  While there’s a particularly good foot chase sequence culminating in a mass traffic pile up the emphasis is on tension and character, not action.  It’s certainly no art film but then it doesn’t pretend to be.  The themes and plot devices are those common to the genre in general and certainly to the other thrillers mentioned about: power and its abuse, corruption in high places, sexual violation and its consequences.

The little differences between European and Hollywood films can be telling.  Nudity, sex and violence are presented in a matter-of-fact manner at odds with the sensational, fetishistic style of an American production.  When, in the prologue sequence, Alexandre and Margot strip off by a lake, swim and make love, there’s neither an overt dwelling on nude bodies nor the prudish flip side: ridiculous framing to avoid the pink bits.  Mel Gibson would certainly not approve for more than once you catch glimpses of a pussy from behind.

There’s one thing the French do in their movies that exactly corresponds to Hollywood practice.  Cinematic sexism being consistent the world over, it is standard in both countries for leading men to be years older than their love interests.  In “Tell No One” Cluzet is a decade and a half the senior of Marie-Josée Croze, who plays Margot.  Given that their characters were meant to be together at primary school, it’s ridiculous.