Tell No One (Ne le dis à personne) ****

"Tell No One" ("Ne le dis à personne"), a tight, breathless suspense and murder mystery film, combines the craft of Hitchcock with the adrenaline of "The Fugitive." Nominated last year for nine César awards (the French Oscars), and winner of four, including best director and best actor, this movie delivers on multiple levels.

Eight years after the brutal murder of his wife, a crime the police suspected him of, the still-grieving pediatrician Dr. Alexandre "Alex" Beck (François Cluzet), gets a disturbing email pointing him to a public Internet video camera image that seems to be of his beloved Margot (Marina Hands). She says, "Tell no one." But soon recently-unearthed clues, and another murder, make Alex the object of a mysterious surveillance and the suspicion of the police. Things get complicated on multiple fronts very quickly.

The movie is wonderfully heavy on detail. The interiors in Paris and the countryside, on many different social levels, are fully realised. The streetscapes and chase scenes are utterly convincing. And the idyllic scenes of Alex and Anne at the lake before the tragedy are beautiful.

The plot is complex, and there are some red herrings, but the unfolding of the story as Alex - the man on the run - investigates is fascinating. Kristin Scott-Thomas does a particularly fine job as Alex's high-powered attorney. The movie does not skimp on emotion, and Cluzet is quite effective conveying the many feelings rattling Alex. Editing is spare and sharp, making the movie a sit up in your chair affair, despite its length of a little more than two hours. Paying full attention will be fully rewarded.

Not rated. 125 minutes. Guillaume Canet - Director / Writer (writer), Harlan Coben - Writer (novel), Philippe Lefebvre - Writer (writer), Alain Attal - Producer, Christophe Offenstein - Cinematographer, M - Composer, Philippe Chiffre - Production Designer, Hervé de Luze - Editor. Distributed in the U.S. by Music Box Films.

Principal actors: François Cluzet, Marie-Josée Croze, André Dussollier, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Jean Rochefort, and Marina Hands.