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Tell No One

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the 2006 French film. For other uses, see Tell No One (disambiguation).
Tell No One
French theatrical release poster
Directed byGuillaume Canet
Screenplay by
Based onTell No One
by Harlan Coben
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyChristophe Offenstein
Edited byHervé de Luze
Music byMatthieu Chedid
Production
companies
Distributed byEuropaCorp Distribution
Release date
  • 1 November 2006 (2006-11-01) (France)
Running time
131 minutes [1]
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Budget$13.5 million [2]
Box office$33.4 million[3]

Tell No One (French: Ne le dis à personne) is a 2006 French thriller film directed by Guillaume Canet and based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Harlan Coben. Written by Canet and Philippe Lefebvre and starring François Cluzet, the film won four categories at the 2007 César Awards in France: Best Director (Guillaume Canet), Best Actor (François Cluzet), Best Editing and Best Music Written for a Film.

Plot

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Eight years following the murder of his wife, Margot, pediatrician Alexandre Beck receives an email showing security footage of what appears to be his wife, alive and well. As this is happening, two bodies are found buried near lake where Margot was murdered and evidence compiled by the police seem to pin their murder on Alex.

Matters are complicated when a group thugs, also tracking Margot's emails, begin to terrorize Alex's friends, leading to the death of one of them, Charlotte. Having been last seen with Alex before her death, the police move in to arrest him at the hospital, but Alex escapes with the help from Bruno, a gangster who felt he owed Alex after the latter treated his ill son. Heading to park, per the email, Alex planned meeting with Margot is thwarted when he is kidnapped by the thugs before Bruno rescues him again.

The following day, Alex is exonerated after his sister, Anne, and her wife, Helene, provide an alibi to their attorney. Meeting with the police and reviewing the compiled evidence, Alex, recalling how Margot's father had been acting strangely following Margot's death, confronts him at his home, where he reveals the truth.

Two months before the event at the lake, Margot had discovered that Philippe Neuville, son of aristocrat Gilbert Neuville, had been molesting children from the children's trust. While attempting to extract a confession, Margot was beaten severely by Philippe before her father killed him with a shotgun.

Fearing retaliation from Gilbert, who had half of the police force on his payroll, Margot's father began tapping his phones where he learned that Gilbert had hired two men to kill Margot. To outwit him, Margot's father killed both men hired by Gilbert, staged Margot’s death by using the body of a dead heroin addict, and sent her into hiding. Having been wearing a wire, Alex is able to transmit the entire conversation to police. With this confession, the police attempt to arrest Margot's father, who instead commits suicide.

Unbeknownst to police, Margot's father knew that Alex was wearing a wire, and in a moment of blocking the transmission, he revealed to Alex that Margot actually shot Philippe, not him. His actions having ensured that she would never be suspected.

Gilbert is arrested for his crimes while Alex and Margot finally reunite at the lake where they had fallen in love as children.

Cast

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Production

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The script made several alterations to the book; a torture expert changed from an Asian male to a white female, and the identity of the killer was switched. The book's author was quoted in an interview as saying that the film's ending was better than his original ending.[4]

Reception

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Tell No One was well received both critically and commercially.

Academy Award-winning British actor Michael Caine said of the film it was the best he had seen in 2007 on the BBC's Film 2007 programme. He also included it among his Top Ten movies of all time in his 2010 autobiography, The Elephant to Hollywood.[citation needed]

Critical response

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 119 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "An intense, well-crafted thriller, Tell No One is equal parts heart-pounding and heart-wrenching."[5] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[6]

Box office

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The film generated $17 million in ticket sales during its first four weeks at the French box office.[7] In total, the film grossed $22,194,261 in France becoming the 12th highest-grossing film of the year with 3,111,809 tickets sold.[8][9] Music Box Films acquired the rights to the film and gave it a limited theatrical release on July 2, 2008. The film opened in eight theaters grossing $169,707 during its opening weekend.[10] In total, the film grossed $6,177,192 in the US and Canada.[11]

Top ten lists

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The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008.[12]

References

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  1. ^ "Ne le dis à personne: Tell No One (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 2007-04-27. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved 2012-01-01.
  2. ^ "Ne le dis ? personne (Tell No One)". JPBox-Office. 2006.
  3. ^ "Tell No One (2008)". Box Office Mojo. 2009-02-08. Retrieved 2010-12-23.
  4. ^ Saner, Emine (June 18, 2007). "Tell everyone: Interview with Guillaume Canet, director of 'Tell No One'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
  5. ^ "Tell No One". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  6. ^ "Tell No One". Metacritic. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  7. ^ "Film4 | Channel 4". www.channel4.com. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  8. ^ "2006 France Yearly Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo.
  9. ^ "Ne le dis à personne (Tell No One) (2006)". JP’s Box-Office (in French).
  10. ^ "Weekend Box Office Results for July 4-6, 2008". Box Office Mojo.
  11. ^ "Tell No One (2008): Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Metacritic: 2008 Film Critic Top Ten Lists". Metacritic. Archived from the original on January 2, 2009. Retrieved January 11, 2009.
  13. ^ The Jeff Buckley version of the song Lilac Wine, from his album Grace (1994), was used as background music in the film.
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