First Hit: Tell everyone to see this very interesting and suspenseful film.
When given a suspenseful situation, I try to solve it. This happens quite often in films and I find myself trying to figure out the puzzle before the film fills in all the pieces. There have been few films that I’ve not figured out before the film provides the answers (Sixth Sense is one).
Tell No One is now in this category as well. It is a perplexing film and there are false starts everywhere.
The film begins with a brief view of a couple’s idyllic life with their family; then an afternoon swim, a scream and a beating. We move ahead eight years later and join Dr. Alexander (Alex) Beck (played by Francois Cluzet) as he continues to mourn his wife Margot (played by Marie-Josee Croze). He receives an email to view a video file on the anniversary of his wife’s death.
When he views the video file, he sees his wife coming up from a subway staircase then she looks directly at the camera. This starts a series of events which have him looking for his wife while people continue to set him up to be convicted for her death because all the pieces surrounding her death never fit.
During the film other snippets of the past are thrown at the audience supporting his undivided love for her. I especially loved the clips of them as children when they use to swim at the same pond where she died.
There are twists and turns and all the while his focus is only on his love for his wife and the belief that she is still alive.
The acting by Francois Cluzet, Kristin Scott Thomas and Philippe Lefebvre (Police Lieutenant Meynard) are well done. Direction and writing by Guillaume Canet are superb.
Overall: This is a wonderful film filled with twists and turns, beautiful romantic scenes, and clever plot manipulation.