What a terrific pas de deux of withholding and revelation “Tell No One” turns out to be.
French director Guillaume Canet’s taut adaptation of Harlan Coben’s best-selling thriller (co-written with collaborator Philippe Lefebvre) balances a story of upended love with a mystery that exerts its power till the very end.
Pediatrician Alexandre Beck and wife Margot haven’t been married long, but deft use of flashbacks makes it clear they have loved each other since childhood.
The film opens with the two enjoying a night with friends and family, including Alex’s sister Anne (Marina Hands) and her mate Helene (Kristin Scott-Thomas).
The next day, the couple spend blissful time on the family lake. Later, they have a mild tiff that ends in confusion and tragedy.
The film advances eight years. We learn Margot was the last victim of a serial killer.
Alex has gone about his work faithfully. But best friend and sister-in-law Helene thinks he’s emotionally hobbled.
Once a year, Alex visits his in-laws home to mark the heartbreaking occasion. Margot’s mother is kind. Her father, a retired cop (Andre Dussollier), seems exhausted by the sight of Alex. (How do you say “you again?” in French?)
The case is reopened when two bodies are unearthed in the forest near where Margot’s mutilated corpse was found. Alex becomes the prime suspect.
As Alex, Francois Cluzet resembles a Gallic Dustin Hoffman circa “Marathon Man” — and not just because he leads the police on a fantastic foot chase onto a Paris roadway.
The dark-haired actor has a moving intensity. He is determined, devoted, desperate.
We like him when he tells cloying parents to lighten up or when he gently tests a little boy for color blindness.
We root for him as a fugitive.
When an anonymous e-mail arrives on the eighth anniversary of Margot’s murder, we want to believe as Alex does that the woman caught looking up at a surveillance camera is Margot.
We hope contrary to the evidence that she’s alive and that Alex is not simply being toyed with by the police or some unknown party.
In early scenes, Marie-Josee Croze (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”) does her part to make us care about Margot. She’s beautiful but also kind.
Director Canet (who plays a detective in the film) is very good at making us fear that the outcome we hope for can’t come to pass. Too many people are working to prove Alex guilty or hurt him.
“Tell No One” is packed with intriguing characters. A pragmatic thug named Bruno (Gilles Lellouche) dotes on his hemophiliac toddler. A skeptical police shrink (Francois Berleand) comes in when the case is reopened. A wealthy senator (Jean Rochefort) employs Alex’s equestrian sister as a show jumper.
Canet avoids the typical nighttime hours of noir. Most often, the action unfurls in the bright summer light of Paris.
Even better, the movie hasn’t much use for femmes fatales. Scott-Thomas provides fine ballast as Helene. Nathalie Baye gives a nicely fierce turn as the lawyer Helene hires for Alex.
Although the slim torturer with the focused mien and frightening grasp of pressure points is more than enough to fuel nightmares.
“Tell No One”
Not rated. 2 hours, 5 minutes. Directed by Guillaume Canet; written by Canet and Philippe Lefebvre; from the book by Harlan Coben; photography by Christophe Offenstein; starring Francois Cluzet, Marie-Josee Croze, Andre Dussollier, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Francois Berleand, Nathalie Baye, Jean Rochefort, Marina Hands, Gilles Lellouche. Opens today at the Mayan.
