With all due respect to the Marquis de Lafayette and Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, France is one the last things on the minds of Americans on the 4th of July. To be fair, the last thing on the minds of French revelers on July 14 is how much our Declaration of Independence inspired their ancestors’ own demands for an end to tyranny, as celebrated on the anniversary of the day that the Bastille fell.

It’s also a safe bet the number of French moviegoers who will buy a ticket to see a Hollywood blockbuster this long holiday weekend will be far greater than that of Yanks who pay to see a French movie. Apparently, there’s no accounting for taste in either country.

Gallic multi-hyphenate Guillaume Canet, whoseTell No One opens this week in Los Angeles and New York, would greatly appreciate it if American viewers broke precedent by taking a chance on his suspenseful Franco-American film. Novelist Harlan Coben, a native of New Jersey, provided the source material, while the Parisian actor/director/writer/producer added the croutons and French dressing. Unlike escargot, it doesn’t require a cultivated palate to be enjoyed.

In any language, Tell No One is that rarest of birds: a truly thrilling thriller. It offers gunplay, intrigue, suspense, corruption, hot lesbians, ruthless thugs, heroes, villains, handsome settings, smart dialogue and one of the most exciting extended chases sinceThe French Connection. Hell, even the subtitles are easy to read. All that’s missing isAngelina Jolie and a tie-in with Paris Las Vegas.

Even with all that going for it, Tell No One will need more than a little bit of luck to make a dent in the holiday box-office. In addition to Wanted, WALL-E, The Incredible Hulk, Indiana Jones, Get Smart and Kung Fu Panda, the competition includes the Will Smith superhero vehicle, Hancock. In recent years, Smith’s name has become as synonymous with July 4 festivities as that of Uncle Sam.

Fans of Alfred Hitchcock and Claude Chabrol will recognize the central conceit of Canet’s film. An innocent doctor is accused of a heinous crime he didn’t commit, and, lacking evidence to prove his innocence, is forced to race against the clock to clear his name and avoid jail or death.

“He’s the ordinary man who finds himself in extraordinary circumstances,” explained Coben, who’s hit the mystery writer’s trifecta by winning the Edgar, Shamus and Anthony awards.

The amiable 6-foot-4 Amherst graduate has seen his novels published in 37 languages, and he’s scored No. 1 best-sellers in more than a dozen countries. Known best for his series featuring sports agent Myron Bolitar, Coben captured lightning in a bottle when Tell No One, his first stand-alone, not only became an international best-seller but the first of his books to be adapted for the big screen. His latest novel, “Hold Tight,” debuted on top of the best-seller lists compiled by the New York Times and London Times.

The accused pediatrician, Alexandre Beck (Francois Cluzet), has been mourning the death of his wife for eight long years, all the time refusing to give up hope for a miracle or the capture of her killers. When a construction project at his family’s lake property reveals two long-buried bodies, police re-open the case and restore Beck as the primary suspect. Circumstantial evidence points directly to the amiable doctor’s involvement, something the audience already knows would have been impossible.

Hours after the discovery, Beck receives a mysterious e-mail, containing a video attachment and cryptic message. The short video shows a woman, who looks exactly like his wife, leaving what appears to be a train station. Instructions of the e-mail suggest that some kind of rendezvous may be possible, but only if no one was made aware of their correspondence. Naturally, Beck withholds knowledge of the downloaded image from police detectives, who now suspect he also might have murdered the men buried in the pit.

If his wife was still alive, she must have had a pretty good reason to remain underground for eight years. This suspicion is confirmed when Beck realizes his computer is being tapped by persons unknown, for reasons that are unclear both to him and the audience. By taking matters into his own hands, Beck has opened a can of worms that will result in new murders, startling revelations and the splendidly choreographed foot chase from one end of Paris to another. Even when Beck appears to have been cleared of the murders – as he must — Canet continues to toy with our beliefs, sympathies and emotions.

As they say in the quote blurbs, “It’s a crackerjack thriller.” For once, they’re right.

Coben says he couldn’t be happier with Canet’s interpretation of his novel. The author met with the filmmaker after he recovered the rights to the story, and they had little trouble agreeing on changes that would be necessary not only to make the book work as a film, but also appeal to Europeans. Coben also was on hand to walk the red carpet in Paris and a festival or two.

“I was happy that he saw the story primarily as a love story, instead of a thriller or mystery,” Coben emphasized. “The chase sequence was almost exactly as I wrote it. He understood that Beck was running to something (a possible rendezvous with the person purporting to be his wife), not escaping from the police.

“They had to stop traffic on Paris’ busiest highway – the Beltway – so they had to get it right the first time. The road is nearly impossible to cross on foot at almost any hour of the day … the street market, into which he flopped, also was real.”

While the journey from page to screen wasn’t nearly as exciting, it, too, had its moments of uncertainty.

“The novel was a huge hit in France,” Canet points out, during a publicity stop in Hollywood. “A producer who was a fan approached me to see if I was interested. After completing my first film, Idol, I didn’t want to take just any project, but this was very appealing.”

After inquiring about the rights, they were told Sony held the option to the novel, and Michael Apted was on board to direct. It looked as if Canet had missed the boat.

A while later, Canet and Apted ran into each other at a banquet.

“I said, ‘You’re directing a movie I’d love to do,’” related Canet, who also co-wrote and acted in Tell No One. “He said, ‘Not anymore. Do it.’ I quietly left the room and found a telephone to call the producer with the news.

“We waited for the rights to revert to Harlan, and then approached him about making the movie in France. We had to convince him we wouldn’t butcher the book.”

Canet also wanted to be sure that crimes at the heart of the story would translate for French viewers.

“We don’t have too many serial killers, so I met with police detectives to determine if the murders in the book were possible in France,” said the movie-star-handsome 35-year-old. “Audiences everywhere have gotten smarter about the details of crimes, because we get the same ‘C.S.I.’ shows as you. They aren’t buying the shortcuts and illogical evidence, anymore.”

The Beltway scene was important, he explained, “because we needed to demonstrate just how desperate Beck was to meet the person claiming to be his wife.”

Canet admires the chase orchestrated by William Friedkin in The French Connection, and its influence is felt mostly in its heart-pounding pace and dogged determination of the protagonist to prevail. His primary inspiration, though, was Ali.

“I loved the way Michael Mann shot that film,” Canet said. “Everything was done with surgical precision … the close-ups, the way he used the camera’s lens to manipulate the field of vision. Mann was able to direct the audience’s attention to exactly where he wanted it to be.”

Tell No One (Ne le dis à personne) became a huge hit in France, and won four of the nine Cesar awards for which it was nominated. The popularity of the novel was such thatKristin Scott Thomas practically demanded to play the wealthy lesbian restaurateur, Hélène Perkins, who hires a high-profile lawyer (Nathalie Baye) to clear Beck’s name.

Canet’s first feature film My Idol (Mon idole), was a well-received satire of reality-based television competitions. His acting resume includes 40 movie and TV credits, but judging from the attention he’s received from Hollywood studio interests, his future probably is behind the camera.

“I wanted to wait until my English was better, before accepting an offer in America,” Canet concluded. “I feel more ready now, but I’m wouldn’t feel comfortable directing a script I didn’t write. Ultimately, what’s most important to me are the characters and the script. “

July 2, 2008

– Gary Dretzka

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