Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

Tell No One

(Ne le dis à personne, France, 2006)

This is based on a novel by Harlan Coben, one of the very best thriller writers working today, and they got it right! Coben wisely sold it to French producers instead of feeding it into the Hollywood meat grinder and stupidity machine, and they have done a superb job. The plot is so convoluted that I’m not even going to get into it, but it is full of surprises, plot reversals, and at its core is that good old reliable favorite Hitchcock theme: the man wrongly accused. There is a very good chase scene, on foot, across a busy freeway. Every character is finely drawn and interesting in his or her own right. From time to time it may be a little hard to follow—Lee and I had to discuss a few plot points afterward—but it all seemed to work out, more or less. I recommend this one highly.

Footnote: The man who plays the hero, François Cluzet, is almost a dead ringer for Dustin Hoffman, with a touch of Peter Sellers thrown in.