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Based on the American crime novel by Harlan Coben, TELL NO ONE is a French thriller from actor/director Guillaume Canet (starred in the Oscar-nominated JOYEUX NOEL), which harkens back to before crime stories became relegated to the CSI and LAW & ORDER TV franchises. This innocent man yarn would make Hitchcock proud as it weaves intrigue and murder and a mysterious missing woman into a touching love story. While it provides its fair share of twists and turns, the true driving force is a simple tale of a husband who truly loves his wife.

Dr. Alex Beck (Francois Cluzet, STORY OF WOMEN) and his wife Margot (Marie-Josee Croze, THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY) have been together since they were children. One summer day, they go to their private lake where they skinny dip. Alex’s father has recently died in a hunting accident and he is in disagreement with his sister, an equestrian star named Anne (Marina Hands, THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS), about selling the farm. This spurs an argument with Margot and she leaves Alex on a floating dock as she heads back to the car. She screams and he swims back to the dock, where he is struck unconscious.

We move forward eight years. Anne’s lover Helene (Kristin Scott Thomas, THE ENGLISH PATIENT) worries about him. When two bodies turn up on Alex’s property, suspicion points back to him being involved in his wife’s murder. Then he gets an email with a link to surveillance footage, is that is wife alive? With the police closing in, Alex goes on the run. The plot thickens with characters such as: Margot’s father/former police Jacques (Andre Dussollier, A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT); loyal thug Bruno (Gilles Lellouche, LOVE ME IF YOU DARE), open-minded detective Eric Levkowitch (Francois Berleand, THE TRANSPORTER); Alex’s high-powered attorney Elysabeth Feldman (Nathalie Baye, AN AFFAIR OF LOVE); wealthy senator Gilbert Neuville (Jean Rochefort, THE MAN ON THE TRAIN), who loves horses; and Neuville’s son Philippe (Canet), who rides horses.

Cluzet brings the right note to his character, making us believe in his love for his wife, which gives the thriller more weight. We feel there is something worth saving at stake. Canet, who also adapted the screenplay, develops Alex into a caring pediatrician, whose ability to look past ones exterior appearance becomes a great asset when trouble comes. The story is complex and never lets any detail just hang there. Elements that seem like simple color eventually play crucial parts in the overall story. Like many great crime thrillers, the assassins are a colorful bunch; I particularly liked the stone-face, sports-bra-wearing female killer who is good with her hands.

The story looses some steam when we arrive at the obligatory scene where one player explains it all… but wait, the story puts a twist on that, which makes it so much more satisfying. Just like that scene, the story features many thriller conventions, but presents them in a way that invigorates them. Canet films the action with realism. Alex isn’t an action hero who leaps from building to building in a single bound never receiving a scratch. He is a man who isn’t wearing the right shoes to be running from the police in. Canet throws us into the story, forcing us to pay attention and unravel the plot for ourselves. All will come together in the end, but we learn the details as Alex does. Canet makes us his accomplice in proving he is innocent, while more importantly finding the woman that he loves.