Ne le dis à personne

This French adaptation of Harlan Coben's convoluted thriller is doomed, by its language, to be overlooked by the majority of English-speaking moviegoers which is a huge shame, because it is a very stylish film that deserves a wider audience. It's strange that an American book has been made by the French, especially one with such obvious commercial potential, but had Hollywood bought the rights, I can't help thinking it would have produced something altogether different. Just watch that long chase scene midway through the film and listen to the soundtrack, distinctly downbeat in comparison to the type of music most American films would use, it nevertheless ratchets up the tension just as well. And there is a mutual moment of revelation for both us and the beleaguered Doctor Alexandre Beck (Francois Cluzet) played to U2's 'With or Without You' which sent a small shiver racing down my spine.

I read Coben's book a couple of year's ago, and I'm not sure whether it's a good thing or not. While prior knowledge of the plot undoubtedly helps you to keep track of what's going on up on the screen – and even then I was struggling at times – the impact of the stories twists are inevitably blunted. As far as I can recall, the film stays fairly loyal to the book, although I'm pretty sure the creepy female assassin changed sex somewhere during the transition from page to screen.

Francois Cluzot, who initially looks too old for the part, quickly grows into the part of a doctor who begins receiving emails from the wife whose murder he has been suspected of for 8 years. Cluzot looks a little like a darker, more rugged Dustin Hoffmann and copes well with the range of emotions he is asked to portray. Canet's direction is solid, and wisely avoids any posturing or flashiness in telling what is essentially a what-you-see-is-what-you-get type of thriller, and only in the final half-hour, before a sit-down-and-let-me-tell-you-what-happened finale, do things begin to drag a little, although this is perhaps forgivable considering the dizzying pace at which the story has been told until then.