A93% Rotten Tomatoes scoreis no mean feat, nor is it an accident.Tell No One, a 2006 French-language thriller directed byGuillaume Canet, earns every bit of this acclaim — and it’s now available to stream on Prime Video. It’s a film that evokes the spirit ofAlfred Hitchcockin its 21st-century aesthetic. Following in the footsteps that gave us suspense masterpieces,Tell No Onethrives on tension, intricate direction, and its ability to immerse you in the terror of its protagonist, who, like in Hitchcock’s pictures, is an ordinary guy being hunted for a crime he didn’t commit. A classic “wrong-man” movie we’ve seen before with Hitchcock’sThe Wrong Manand other film noirs from the Golden Age of Hollywood, Canet’s film updates its Hitchcockian tropes for the age of digital paranoia, with modern tech like CCTV and cybercafés grounding the story in the present day. A loose adaptation ofHarlan Coben’s novel,Tell No Oneis a smartly crafted thriller that pulls you in and tightens its hold one twist at a time.
‘Tell No One’ Reimagines Classic Hitchcockian Tropes for Its Mystery
Borrowing a page from Hitchcock’s playbook in films likeNorth by NorthwestandThe 39 Steps,Tell No Onegives us a similar classic setup: a regular guy suddenly caught in a nightmare he never asked for. The film follows Dr. Alex Beck (François Cluzet), a beloved pediatrician still trying to move on from the murder of his wife, Margot (Marie-Josée Croze), eight years ago. Just as he’s starting to rebuild his life, everything unravels. The cops reopen the case, accusing him of Margot’s murder and two others as well. When you think it’s turning into a typical whodunit, the film pulls the rug out from under you. Out of nowhere, Alex starts getting email messages that suggest Margot might still be alive.
Just likeCary Grant’s character Roger Thornhill inNorth by Northwestruns for his life after being mistaken for the wrong guy, Alex finds himself ducking cops, dodging killers, and trying to piece together who framed him and why. And with every new twist, Canet is there for dialed-up suspense. His film layers in fear, heartbreak, and just enough mystery to keep you hooked. It’s a wild ride that hits all the right notes for fans of smart, emotionally charged thrillers.
This Mystery Thriller Is the Most Hitchcockian Movie Not Made by Hitchcock
The movie also acts as a game of “Spot the actor who has worked with Hitchcock.”
‘Tell No One’ Builds Tension With Clues, Love, and Loss
From the classic hook of a man who is falsely accused to the film’s pacing,Tell No Oneisvintage Hitchcock. Director Canet trusts the audience to keep up with the film’s breadcrumb-like clues, creating suspense from what might happen in addition to what the audience can already see happening. For instance, when Alex gets an email from MA (initials for his supposedly dead wife), the film doesn’t immediately reveal her identity until much later. Thus,Tell No Onelets the audience accompany Alex as he pieces together the mystery, with each twist more devastating than the last. But even more importantly,Canet invests in the film’s emotional stakes as much as its plot mechanisms.While the danger that looms is that Alex could pay heavily for a crime he didn’t commit, Canet raises the stakes with something even more intriguing. There’s a chance that Alex’s wife might still be alive. From the outset, he’s already demonstrated how deeply they were in love. Their tragic romance is an aspect we’ve seen in Hitchcock films likeVertigoandRebecca, and it gives the thriller a real heart.
Visually,Tell No Oneuses the same principles Hitchcock employed to immerse viewers in his stories.There are dizzying shots, like Alex gazing upward at trees as his world crumbles around him, reminiscent ofthe groundbreakingVertigodolly shot.The film also shows the audience the danger Alex is in without Alex himself knowing, like in the park sequence where he’s being monitored by assassins, as if nodding to Hitchcock’s famous approach to suspense.
Alfred Hitchcock would be proud ofTell No Onefor its understanding of the mechanisms of suspense he oftenemployed in his filmographyand how it owns them in a refreshing take. It is a thriller with brains, whose suspense beams with soul, while its story unfolds with surgical precision. It wears its Hitchcockian influence proudly while speaking its own cinematic language.
Tell No One
