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Tell No One
Music Box Films


7.7

based on 30 reviews
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How did we calculate this?

based on 34 votes
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MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Kristin Scott-Thomas, François Cluzet, Marie-Josée Croze, André Dussollier, Jean Rochefort, and Marina Hands

Tell No One is based on Harlan Coben's international best-selling thriller about pediatrician Alexandre Beck, who still grieves for his beloved wife Margot Beck, who was murdered eight years earlier. When two bodies are found near the scene of the original crime, the police reopen the case, and Alex becomes a suspect again. The mystery deepens when Alex receives an anonymous e-mail with a link to a video clip that seems to suggest that Margot is somehow still alive and with a message that says "Tell no one." (Music Box Films)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Harlan Coben (novel) Guillaume Canet
DIRECTED BY:	Guillaume Canet
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: March 31, 2009 Theatrical: July 2, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	125 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	France
LANGUAGE(S):	French

Alternative Title: Ne le dis à personne

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Tell No One's plot thickens in about five ways at once, but they're all connected. The issue of how is a riddle that does more than tease --gives you an itch you won't want to stop scratching.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The title Tell No One recalls the days when ads proclaimed, "No one will be seated after the first 15 minutes" and "Be considerate of your neighbors: Don't give away the ending of this picture." Both rules apply to this canny, refreshingly emotional and intuitive thriller.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Cluzet's brooding performance propels the movie, and writer-director Guillaume Canet, best known here for his own acting work in "Joyeux Noel" and "Love Me If You Dare," skillfully orchestrates the cascading revelations.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Spicing up the entire package is a screenplay by Canet and Philippe Lefebvre that bristles with wit and energy.

The New Yorker David Denby

It’s Cluzet’s intense performance that makes this genre piece a heart-wrenching experience.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Crisply and competently filmed, Tell No One is an intriguing sample of new-school French cinema at the more commercial end of the spectrum.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Beautifully written and acted, Tell No One is a labyrinth in which to get deliriously lost.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Thrillers aren't always so thrilling, but Tell No One is -- and absorbing, sometimes perplexing and often stirring as well.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Author Coben, who says he is a fan of "stories that move you, that grab hold of your heart and do not let it go," has gotten a film that does exactly that.

Time Richard Schickel

Indeed, you could argue that Tell No One is a variant on one of Hitchcock's favorite themes: the running man whose story no one (except us in the audience) believes. These fictions, of course, depend for their success on the French respect for rationalism (and their horror when reason is torn asunder by criminal irrationality).

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The movie brims over with action -- check out Alex's run through traffic on the Paris beltway -- but Canet scores a triumph by plumbing the violence of the mind.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A terrific mystery, equal parts haunting love story and nimble thriller.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Even when it's baffling, it's never boring. I've heard of airtight plots. This one is not merely airtight, but hermetically sealed.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The result is one of the twistiest thrillers in recent memory.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

In the fine tradition of well-made thrillers, it's enough that it all feels solid at the moment, and the final revelations are unexpected and seemingly inevitable.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

It's a solid study in paranoia and gamesmanship.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Among the movie's many delights are the fluctuating rhythms of its pacing, an atmospheric volatility that sets off the doctor's blooming paranoia against his sunlit, leafy surroundings, and a terrific cast that includes Kristin Scott Thomas.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

A crafty, swift, subtly stylish thriller.

Film Threat KJ Doughton

Tell No One is a French variation on "The Fugitive," but it's a more subtle, discreet animal.

Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt

Has everything a great personal-paranoia/persecution movie needs.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Canet has a good feeling for lowlife atmosphere and he works up a few fine Hitchcockian twirls. Kristin Scott Thomas and Nathalie Baye round out the sleek cast.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The result is a whodunit so nicely crafted that you're tempted to forgive the Byzantine plot -- hell, you're even tempted to pretend you actually understand its twisting obscurities.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Canet and Lefevre pruned subplots and fixed the novel's ending -- it's now merely preposterous rather than patently absurd – but it's the cast that makes the genre clichés feel vivid and even fresh.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

The story starts at a low boil and quickly heats up, but the problem with Tell No One--a common problem with contemporary pulp literature--is that at some point, all the narrative's intriguing questions resolve with prosaic answers, delivered in long, convoluted speeches by people wielding guns.

Premiere Priya Jain

It's difficult to enjoy a thriller in which the big reveal is such a clunker, but if there's an exception to that rule, Tell No One might be it.

San Francisco Chronicle Reyhan Harmanci

It just does everything really well: perfect pacing, lovely camera work, spot-on acting and an ingenious plot.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Enough talk; enough flashbacks. Sometimes the best thing a mystery can do is give its protagonist a reason to run like hell.

Variety Lisa Nesselson

Though almost laughably intricate in its plotting, this thoroughly Gallic adaptation of Harlan Coben's novel reps an entertaining sophomore outing for thesp-turned-director Guillaume Canet.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

The story becomes so convoluted and contrived that much of the tension dissipates.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Once the final character has put the last puzzle piece in place, courtesy of an epic explanation, a kind of relief sets in: Someone just needed to spell it all out. It does not entirely help.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 34 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jay H. gave it a7:
Solid mystery thriller from French, and the French excel at that genre. Well acted, suspenseful and most always interesting. It does go on a bit long, but otherwise it's a fine film. Good score and cinematography.

Alex gave it a9:
Excellent picture. Very compelling and wonderfully crafted.

Amanda L gave it a2:
I haven't seen the movie. But I HAVE read the book. The pediatricians name isn't "Alexandre" it's David. And his wife's name is not "Margot" it's Eliazbeth. I find it insulting that they made such a horrible mistake on Harlan Cobens book. Read it, you won't be able to put it down.

Addison S gave it a9:
Incredibly well crafted film that leaves you absolutely breathless.

Robert E. gave it a10:
A deep film; deeply plotted and deeply felt, brilliantly acted and intensely memorable: I thought about half a sleepless night. It reminded me of that best of noir films, Out of the Past

Cecil T. gave it a6:
Over-rated. I'd ask those who praise it's airtight plot what happened to the baby.

Eric L. gave it a3:
Watching or reading a Good Mystery should be like watching a Good Magician: you know you are being cleverly misled and relish the challenge of seeing through various feints and slight of hand to put the puzzle together. But mysteries only delight us when we know that we were given a fair chance--i.e. that the clues were there all along, but we were fooled despite our best efforts. Tell No One never gives the audience a chance: its like hearing a 7 yr old tell a story and realizing midway through she's been making it up off the top of her head (and has now lost the pt entirely). While the film's opening is terrific, once Canet force feeds Jeff Buckley's otherwise gorgeous "Lilac Tree" (at twice the film's normal volume), any discerning viewer will began to suspect a fraud. It goes downhill from there. I'm honestly shocked at how easily duped most critics (and apparently some viewers) are: the script isn't complex; it is incoherent. And with the exception of a few chases, the editing is merely confusing; not beguiling. A last pt: the film shows how easy it is to get good reviews simply by flattering the political and aesthetic sensibilities of film critics. Perhaps the most annoying thing about Tell No One is its smug and lazy liberalism (I say this as a life-long liberal). No wait: even more annoying is its preening, self indulgent and entirely uninspired musical score. You get the feeling Canet spent more time figuring out which songs from his 1990's mix tape to use than figuring out how to convey a fairly complex mystery novel in the space of two hours.

Tell No One Music Box Films

Tell No One
Music Box Films