Tell No One

Buy This Item Tell No One by Music Box Films  Available from Amazon  $24.98  on 11-14-2008     Based on Harlan Coben s international best selling thriller about pediatrician Alexandre Beck who still grieves the murder of his beloved wife Margot Beck eight years earlier. When two bodies are found near scene of the crime, the police reopen the case and Alex becomes a suspect again. The mystery deepens when Alex receives an annoymous e-mail with a link to a video clip that seems to suggest Margot is somehow still alive and a message to Tell No One. Here is how a thriller should be made. Roger Ebert "Hot-blooded, haunting and packed with the pleasures of the unexpected." Rolling Stone Magazine Reader Reviews Says Roger Ebert: "Here is how a thriller should be made." Says Stephen Holden of the New York Times: "I watched it twice. It was even better the second time." Says me: "I couldn't agree more with them." Tell No One, even without the quotes, is one of the best thrillers I've seen in a long, long time. Alexander Beck and his wife, Margot, both much in love, have gone for a bit of evening skinny-dipping in the country. There's a minor disagreement and she dives back in from the float and heads to the shore. He hears her cry out and swims as swiftly as he can after her. When he reaches the small dock and starts to pull himself out, he's met by a baseball bat. While he's in a coma for three days his wife is found dead with severe bruising and cuts, the marks of a known serial killer. But who pulled Beck out of the water? Who called for emergency medical help? Eight years later Dr. Alex Beck, a pediatrician, is told by the police that the remains of two unidentified male bodies have been found in the vicinity of where his wife was murdered. Then he receives an e-mail on his computer. The attachment shows a woman leaving a crowded exit. She pauses and looks at the security camera. The picture is fuzzy. The scene ends. Beck has never remarried and still is haunted by the memory of his wife. He is almost sure this woman is she. The message in the e-mail says, "Tell no one. They're watching." The director and co-screenwriter Guillaume Canet has taken the novel by Harlan Coben and, working with Coben, has fashioned a film at least as good as the novel. The film has been crafted with care. You'd best pay attention to every moment. Irrelevant items turn out to be relevant. Assumptions based on how a scene opens turn out often to be not what they seem, but just as reasonable. Canet (and Coben) don't shy away from violence -- there is a memorable woman you don't ever want to displease -- but the violence isn't just for gee whiz show biz purposes. When violence happens, it reminds us to stay alert. Canet takes us all over the place, from Paris slums to society horse events. He has Beck dancing across a highway filled with speeding cars and then hiding out in a dumpster sharing space with garbage and a large rat. The story is just as complicated as Coben's novel (as all his novels are), but -- if you've been paying attention -- all becomes clear. If the cops are after Beck because they think he may have had something to do with his wife's death, it also may be true that others are after him because they think she might be alive. But why? Helping immeasurably with the interest and speed of the film are the actors. Francois Cluzet plays Dr. Beck, a capable, resourceful man, but no buff Hollywood hero. Cluzet is not an especially handsome lead actor, and that's all to the good. Surrounding him are such fine French actors as Andre Dussollier as his wife's father, a grieving retired senior cop; Francois Berleand as a sympathetic and smart police officer; Nathalie Baye as a lawyer who knows how to deal with district attorneys; and a fine Jean Rochefort, as well as Kristin Scott Thomas speaking impeccable French as his best friend, a wealthy woman having an affair with his equestrienne sister. Tell No One is an excellent movie. The one-disc Region 1 U.S. DVD won't be released until the end of November. For those with all-region DVD players, you can get the British two-disc Region 2 release right now. As of this posting, there is a terrific price reduction at AmazonUK. The second disc contains a variety of extras. I hope you'll pick up of a few of Harlan Coben's mysteries while you're at it. He started out with several books featuring Myron Bolitar (whose best friend, Win Lockwood, is not a person to irritate). Try the first one first, Deal Breaker (Myron Bolitar Mysteries). Coben lately has moved into darker themes, such as Tell No One. His latest is The Woods. Coben knows how to create intricate but logical plots and strong characters. He's a first-class writer. His books are much better than the usual thriller-every-year bestseller that some authors churn out regularly.

Tell No One Available from Amazon Price: $24.98 Updated on 11-14-2008.

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