02/09/13
26/07/13
Tell No One is a well crafted mystery thriller from France, this binge on French cinema should end soon, I promise. Alexandre Beck is a paediatrician played by François Cluzet, who starred in a movie I previously reviewed, Untouchable. 8 years after his wife is murdered, and he was a key suspect, he is still in a grieving when one day he receives an email which shows CCTV footage of his wife that makes it seem as though she is still alive. There lies the mystery about which this film revolves, what truly happened to his wife all that time ago?
Good thrillers are hard to come by and Tell No One comes so close to being a great thriller yet those hopes fall to the wayside in the middle third of this film. Events become a little too convoluted and too many characters are introduced without the audience knowing who they are or where they fit in to the story. It is often said that the resolution to a mystery should be one that you wouldn’t expect but once you witness it you know it couldn’t have ended any other way. Well, I certainly didn’t anticipate how Tell No One would finish and it was undoubtedly very clever and kept me guessing but it still felt a little overly complicated.
The chase scenes on foot are sublime and truly exhilarating, as Beck is a man on the run against the police who are after him when new information came to light about his wife’s murder. Other shadowy characters come into play and shake things up as you’re kept guessing as to who is responsible and what is happening. If you are a fan of movies like Unknown and The Bourne Identity then there’s a lot here to enjoy, I certainly had a lot of fun watching Tell No One.
The who experience does drag a little and could do with a little harsh editing to trim it down and better maintain the tension and suspense but that’s a relatively minor complaint for what was otherwise a pretty fun ride of a movie.
6.9 out of 10. Had a lot more potential that it didn’t quite realise but definitely worth checking out and is a cut above most of the mediocre thrillers floating about these days.
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