Originally I planned to use the little downtime I had Friday afternoon/Saturday morning to play through the text-input-based-Lovecraftian-horror-adventure game, Anchorhead. Wow isn't that a mouthful? Sadly all the progress I made was lost when a friend borrowed my laptop and accidentally closed the window and I was unable to restore my game. So that will be saved for another time.
Instead, French 1003 came through for me by assigning a movie to watch for class that fit the theme of my blog! Since you probably weren't aware, I'm a total Francophile so I enjoyed watching it and was so pleased to find out it was a Hitchcock-like thriller!
As I've said before, I don't discriminate against any form of horror. Everything from campy-comedy to gory-gut-wrenching to thriller-mystery is OK in my book...or well, my blog.
And, lets be real for a minute, if you don't like Hitchcock...well everyone is entitled to their opinion but you're wrong.
Now on to the review.
Ne le Dis à Personne (in English, Tell No One), is a French thriller that completely screams Hitchcock, as I said before.
As I learned in film class, while America only went through a phase where these type of thrillers were incredibly popular, France on the other hand never left that phase and these type of movies are still very mainstream.
Ne le Dis à Personne is about Dr. Alexandre Beck and his life after the murder of his wife Margot.
The first scene opens with the two of them doing couple things, has a flashback or two establishing that they've known each other for awhile, and then one night Margot gets up from their lakeside resting place and you hear her scream in the woods. Alex swims after her only to get knocked out by a baseball bat.
Flash forward, 8 years have passed. Dr. Beck seems to be getting along with his life just fine, he is treating patients, walking his dog, and hanging out with his sister and her wife a lot. On the anniversary of his wife'd death he receives a strange email from an anonymous source containing a video of Margot walking around somewhere.
Excuse me, what? I thought Margot was killed by a serial killer in the first scene. There were even flashbacks to her dead body and her family identifying her.
Since this is a really fantastic movie, I don't want to spoil too much for anyone so I'll just give you a very short summary of the plot.
So obviously Alex is confused and upset that he is receiving emails about his dead wife claiming she isn't dead after all, and thats when the movie really starts moving quickly. Next thing you know there are people shown tapping into his computer, people getting held hostage and beaten up all while being asked "Ou est Margot (Where is Margot)?" And there is murder. And through all of this, who is the main suspect the police are chasing? None other than Dr. Alex Beck.
There are chase scenes, and gun shots, and eerie flashbacks all making you wonder, "is Margot really dead?" And like most Hitchcock movies, there are plot twists, and curve balls, and you'll find yourself sitting there trying to solve the mystery and coming up with five different solutions to what could have happened.
The first 30-40 minutes of the movie are admittedly a little slow, they just follow the daily boring life of a pediatrician. At the 40 minute mark is when it starts getting interesting, with the first email being received, and the first suggestion that Margot is either alive or haunting Alex via the internet.
At first the movie seems like its a slow build and then all of a sudden Alex is accused of murder and the movie becomes so fast paced that you may or may not get metaphorical whiplash.
Before I move on to giving the movie a rating, I will say this: There are implied scenes of rape. Its not terrible, mostly just implied and a subject of discussion in the film, but just to establish this now; I will always tell you when there is a possible trigger of rape in a book or movie, its the only trigger I will mention because I mean, its a horror blog. I can't be like "trigger warning: blood and murder," I mean most movies I watch and review on here are like that.
But rape is a very serious thing that upsets people depending on the varying degrees of how its shown. So yes, trigger warning for it, but it isn't graphic or too bad.
I give this film a 4.5/5 stars. Why not 5 you ask? I just don't feel like it deserves 5/5 so sit down and don't ask again, I reply.
★★★★½
You can find the subtitled movie on Netflix under foreign movies, or simply by googling it and clicking the Netflix link. I highly recommend it if you like Hitchcock movies, thrillers, France, or car chases.
And on that note, I leave you until I have another review. Hopefully my blog will pick up in October because its Halloween month which only means; horror non-stop!
"This house is clean."
♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley
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