Marie-joseeCroze Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Tell No One is a decidedly modern thriller that also, wisely, respects the great examples of the genre's past; strip away all the e-mail and web video and it's a classic Hitchcockian thriller, where a regular-but-resourceful man is squeezed between those who have committed a crime and the cops who think he's committed it. Based on a novel by American best-selling author Harlen Coben, Tell No One is transplanted -- gently -- to France by writer-director Guillame Canet, who turns Coben's breezy summertime page-turner into a breezy summertime movie. Yes, there are plot points in the film where you'll later go back and puzzle over how who knew what when, but trust me, you won't be thinking about that while Tell No One's running up on the big screen.

Alex (François Cluzet) and Margot (Marie-Josee Croze) are happy, childhood sweethearts who've made a real and adult marriage out of that foundation; they're relaxing at the family's country estate enjoying a little night swimming when Margot gets out of the water to check on something. There's a shout, a scream; Alex swims to help her ... and is knocked unconscious by a blow. And then a title jumps the film "Eight Years Later." It's an eye blink for us; for Alex, it's been an eternity.

Quick: name the last romantic comedy you saw that actually had the entire audience laughing hysterically from start to finish. You can't, can you? Unless, of course, you've recently been to a film festival and seen Laurent Tirard's hilarious film, The Story of My Life (Mensonges et trahisons et plus si affinités). I truly can't recall the last time I saw a movie this witty and intelligent, and I see a lot of movies.

I went to this film with a bit of trepidation. After all, the last SIFF film I went to, Earth and Ashes, was billed by SIFF as a French comedy, and while I really enjoyed that film it was about as funny as a week spent sitting shiva. Furthermore, romantic comedies tend not to be my favorite films. American romantic comedies, written for an audience nurtured on a steady diet of mundane, regurgitated storylines, tend to be absurdly sentimental with more sap than comedy.