A cop chase, gangsters, some shootings, French lesbians, and a splash of nudity; everything a self-respecting man, or lesbian, wants from a motion picture. Unfortunately Tell No One has at times a relatively engaging trail of events, which when unfolds could even be described as a storyline, thus dampening my desire for superfluous sex and violence and consequently rendering this film a sure fire hit for the Agatha Christie reading masses. With an initial cast as beautiful as the location in which it is set but an underlying hyperbole of horror, you could be forgiven for thinking writer and director Guillaume Canet’s judgement was wrong in reaching this uneasy dichotomy so soon. What this enables however is a fitting portrayal of Harlan Coben’s 2001 bestseller on which Ne le Dis à Personne is based.

The film opens with the beautiful Margot (Marie-Josée Croze) undressing and diving into a misty lagoon. Lovely. Shortly following her, husband Alexandre Beck (François Cluzet) strips and swims after her until they rest naked on a wooden platform. Night falls and Margot swims back to the shore after a brief disagreement with Alex about his sister Anne (Marina Hands). Minutes later the isolated figure of Alex hears muted screams in the distance. Jumping into the water he races towards dry land. On exit from the water he is struck over the head and plummets back into the water unconscious.

Flash-forward eight years and Alex is sitting in his Doctor’s surgery when a mystery email arrives instructing him to click on a link at a specified time. Making sure he is on his own, Alex follows the instructions and witnesses an older looking Margot on a CCTV camera. Swept by confusion, horror and hope he is surprised when shortly afterwards he is accosted by the same police who suspected him of his wife’s murder eight years before; two more people had just been found dead in the same location. The pace of the film quickens after Alex approaches Margot’s father, the first police officer on the scene at the time of his daughter’s death. Alex wants more information after the recent goings on but his father-in-law is reluctant and orders him to leave. It is soon apparent to Alex that he is being followed and he takes it upon himself to try and find out why the police are chasing him and more importantly, if his wife is still alive.

An exhilarating chain of events which would leave the most ardent film fan nursing at least a semi, combined with more twists than the popular family Christmas game, Tell No One manages to deliver on a variety of levels. Would I watch it again? Probably would, just so my simple little peanut could grasp the relevance of the complex storyline further. Would I want to watch it again? Probably not, as confusion is unnecessary when simple sex and violence would do just fine.