Tell No One

Alex was happily married to Margot. But eight years prior she was brutally murdered while they were at a lake celebrating their anniversary. Alex was not without suspicion as the possible murderer. As Alex tries to carry on his life, never truly over the death of his wife, he receives a bizarre anonymous email. The email contains a link to a real time video feed showing his wife very much alive (or so he thinks). New evidence is uncovered at the crime scene which increases interest in the murder and especially the police interest in Alex as the suspect. Alex must discover as fast as he can what is going on.

The film directed by Guillaume Canet is a French language thriller. As Alex investigates the circumstances of his wife's death and continues to receive emails from this anonymous person he discovers a complex series of events that begin to complicate his life. Is his wife alive? Why has someone murdered a close friend and planted evidence on Alex? The film is a solid entertaining thriller. Its story is good and its acting is as well. It may get a bit convoluted and confusing as the film nears its end but that tends to be the nature of such thrillers.

What is blissfully good about it is that it eschews what we might consider the typical Hollywood thriller format. There are no explosions or an action sequence ever eleven point two minutes. In fact there is really only one action set piece. It is well performed, authentically motivated and tense. Canet no doubt could have put other sequences in and handled them with skill. But he doesn't need to conceal a thin premise with flashy action. The mystery carries itself just fine.

It is a movie like Tell No One that makes me happy. It is not without its flaws but it is by no means a terrible film. It is just a good story that was fun to watch and doesn't make pretensions to being overly artistic or reach for the lowest common denominator.