.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

Lost in the shuffle of all the big budget action extravaganzas of the summer comes the French thriller, Ne le dis à personne or Tell No One as translated into English. It is an electric, enigma of a thriller and just so happens to be one of the best films of the year.

Tell No One stars François Cluzet as Alex Beck a doctor who while vacationing with his wife is left for dead while his wife is murdered.

The film fast forwards eight years later when Alex receives a mysterious email which links him to a video of what may or may not be his wife alive and well. With a closing line of 'Tell no one', Alex is left on his own to begin putting together the intricate pieces of the puzzle that might lead him to the woman he thought was cremated eight years ago.

Complicating matters is the fact that the murder of his wife has been reopened by investigators as a result of two uncovered bodies on a remote piece of land that belongs to the Beck family that have links to his thought-dead spouse.

We are then treated to a cat-and-mouse game with more moving parts than a store full of grandfather clocks. There will be additional emails, corrupt cops, in-laws with hidden agendas and thugs that end up being our protagonists best friend.

Tell No One is a film where an audience can really sit back and enjoy things wind up and then reveal itself in an ending that even the best visionaries won't see coming in its full entirety. It never plods throughout its two plus hour running time and each situation or event in Alex's life is connected in logical and rational explanations.

Directed by Guillaume Canet who has some directing credits in his biography, but is more an actor than a director, Tell No One was released in 2006 in Europe where it since has won 8 different awards while being nominated for 10 others. It made only $27 million in foreign receipts and hopes to catch a North American audience that might be all Batted-Out and looking for something that doesn't have the explosions or thoughtfulness of the summer fare.

Don't be fooled though. Tell No One has some thrilling moments. A chase scene across a stretch of highway and a shooting in broad daylight on a city street give you some adrenaline pumping moments that can be seen in any of the bigger budget flicks that might be playing to either side of your theatre seat. But Tell No One stands alone and away from the crowd. It is tight, well constructed and executed film and if you are not someone that normally enjoys subtitles, maybe this is the film to get you started.