Forget the new age cinematic stylings of M. Night Shyamalan. Despite a few above average thrillers, he’s never made a film that’s even in the same league as his breakthrough stunner, the '90s masterpiece The Sixth Sense (which, as far as ghost stories go, cannot be topped, in my humble opinion). No, the master of the surprise endings and twists-to-end-all-twists hasn’t been able to be called that for quite some time (hello, Lady in the Water). And instead, he’s been given the ultimate run for his money by hot French actor turned writer/director Guillaume Canet.
That’s right, the dishy Frenchman who shared the screen with the equally breathtaking Oscar winner Marion Cotillard in France’s smash hit, the mean-spirited romance I just didn’t get called Love Me if You Dare, has not only become the man on Cotillard’s arm in real life but one amazing director to watch in his own right. In Canet’s newest film Tell No One (a.k.a Ne le Dis a Personne)—a thriller based on American crime writer Harlan Coben’s bestselling novel of the same name—he goes Shyamalan one hundred better. Thus, since foreign film fans have most likely met Canet the handsome actor, I’m happy to introduce you to Canet 2.0.
Instead of just blowing our minds with one twist at the end of the film—how does one hundred strike you? All in ten minutes? All in French? In a summer filled with CGI and way too many superheroes to keep straight, admittedly I was unprepared for this ultimate, intellectual brain-teaser and in my screening notes—no doubt influenced by far too many Apatow-like comedies of late—I actually wrote, “It’s the Scooby Doo ending to top all Scooby Doo endings.” Yet now that I can process it in the light of day, that’s precisely what it is and although Tell No One’s wrap-up certainly made my head spin in the theatre, man, did it make for a fascinating post-film discussion and drive home.
While it may sound like a kid trying to unwrap every one of his birthday presents at once or gorge himself on a dozen pies in a state fair pie eating contest, amazingly, the twists and turns in Tell No One don’t seem like they’re simply the work of a glutton for pretense — they make perfect sense and not only challenge the audience’s intellect far more than “I see dead people; they’re everywhere,” but managed to make me wish I could’ve stayed for a double feature of the exact same film to see it again right away.
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