TELL NO ONE

TELL NO ONE is a French flick I caught last night up here in the Berkshires at the local Triplex. The theater was packed (mostly gray hairs) on a Thursday night, because the movie had gotten such great word of mouth.

But it wasn’t an earth shattering or life changing artistic experience. In fact, it was just a not-as-good but not bad Hitchcock style thriller with contrived plot devices that at times had my heart pumping and my nerves jumping and at other times had me going huh?

Lots of terrific acting though and the usual French female beauty that somehow transcends age and type to make every woman seem desirable, except for those who were deliberately not supposed to be.

The male lead (Francois Cluzet) looked like a French version of Dustin Hoffman in THE MARATHON MAN, (or like a combination of Hoffmann and Leonard Cohen, as my friend Karen pointed out to me afterwards). He carried the movie, his performance central to almost every scene. And it was a compelling performance.

Like I said, all the acting was good. Unfortunately I didn’t know most of the French actors and am unable to match them with their characters' names, except for one of the female leads, Marie-Josee Croze, who plays the lead’s wife and the Mcguffin (sp.?) as Hitchcock called the device that keeps the plot moving.

But some of the actors I did know, like Nathalie Baye in a smaller role as a tough lawyer and Kristin Scott Thomas as the lesbian sister-in-law of of the lead character (married to his sister).

The actor who almost stole the movie for me was Gilles Lellouche, who played “Bruno,” a French Arab thug with a heart of gold. He reminded me of a cousin of mine who was similarly goodhearted and tough and had the same reckless smile that would take over his face unexpectedly and make you want to smile back and feel grateful you knew the guy.

If you like thrillers and can handle a plot that yanks you all over the place before finally and satisfactorily (if a little too conveniently) tying everything up, you’ll love TELL NO ONE.