'Tell No One'? Don't keep mum

Sony, Star Tribune

"Tell No One"

This moody French thriller maintains a delicate balance of emotion and tension.

By COLIN COVERT, Star Tribune

Last update: July 17, 2008 - 4:07 PM

Here's a cool movie about a cold case. "Tell No One" begins eight years after the murder of Margot (Marie-Josee Croze), the beloved wife of Alex (Francois Cluzet), a gentle Parisian pediatrician. The killing was ascribed to a maniac who was active in the area at the time.

When Alex receives an e-mailed video that apparently shows his wife alive, he launches his own investigation. Soon he's on the run from police and villains alike in tense urban chase sequences that unfold like a Gallic "The Fugitive."

Adapting this wronged-man thriller by bestselling American crime writer Harlan Coben, director Guillaume Canet hasn't merely repositioned it to France. He's given it a moody sense of romantic longing. Alex, emotionally devastated by his wife's death, has lived a shadow life, holding himself apart from other women, but lavishing care and attention on his young patients. His compassion isn't just a character note. It plays a key role in the densely complicated plot: The criminally connected father of a little hemophiliac becomes a crucial ally as Alex evades his pursuers.

This film's Paris isn't the picture-postcard destination of most films. Canet introduces us to Third-World street bazaars, Internet cafes, housing projects and the ugly high-speed freeway that encircles the city -- an ideal locale for a hot pursuit foot chase, by the way.

The story might have been streamlined for the screen -- unraveling the mystery requires no fewer than three flashbacks -- but it would be hard to decide which of the sideline characters to prune away, especially in a cast that includes such estimable performers as Jean Rochefort, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Marina Hands and Nathalie Baye.

"Tell No One" maintains a rewarding balance of genuine emotion and high-tension entertainment. See it and tell everyone.

Colin Covert • 612-673-7186