Ne le dis à personne

Or to give it its English title, Tell No One. Yes, this French film is based on Harlan Coben’s bestselling thriller. I have not read the book and so am not in a position to compare the two. If, like me, you’re not familiar with the plot, our main character is a doctor whose wife was murdered eight years prior. The discovery of bodies near the scene of the crime triggers a fresh police investigation whilst the good doctor suddenly receives an email from his wife.

It’s a slow yet compelling thriller. There’s long silences that would never be allowed in a Hollywood blockbuster, broken up by the rustle of papers or a character’s breath. Lots of low angle viewpoints and shaky hand held camera scenes too. With it being French and all, there’s naked bottoms in the first 6 minutes (I was starting to think it was going to be nothing but naked bottoms). I did think it jumped a little too quickly to the “confession” without giving me a chance to work it all out myself, but the problem with relying on subtitles is that you can easily miss an important line when pouring yourself another glass of wine.

I spent a lot of the film thinking, that actress looks remarkably like Kristin Scott Thomas. It actually is Kristin Scott Thomas, what a talented lady she is. Also there’s an adorable dog that looks a bit like a teddy bear. If you’re wondering what breed she is (the dog, not Kristin), she’s a Briard. Cue cute doggy photo:

Now I haven’t been exposed to much real life violence but the parts where people got beaten up seemed a bit fake. Maybe that’s saying something about the graphic nature of American TV shows more than the realism of French film but it detracted a little from the believability. I must pay more attention to Street Crime UK (is that even still on telly?). In the same vein, when the scary muscular woman was supposedly doing horrible things to internal organs, she really just looked like she was trying to relieve her victims’ stomach cramps.

Warning, this trailer does contain brief nudity (that got your attention didn’t it?):

Apparently there’s an American remake coming out next year but seriously give the French one a go. Overall an enjoyable film.