Nearly eight years after his wife Margot (Croze) was brutally murdered at their lake house by an unknown assailant, pediatrician Alex Beck (Cluzet) — once the prime suspect in the case — is shocked to learn the police have discovered two bodies on the property that implicate him in the murders. The same day, he receives a cryptic email and a link to surveillance tape of Margot, who appears to be alive, warning him that they are being watched. Calling on his sister’s lover Helene (Thomas) for legal help, Beck flees when the cops come calling at his office with an arrest warrant, determined to discover the truth before they can catch up with him...
Canet is a big-name actor and teen heartthrob in France, but in his debut suspense thriller based on the novel by Harlan Coben, Canet proves he has directorial chops, too. Cluzet is the perfect Everyman, running from the law and trying to outwit shadowy conspirators who want to see him dead or behind bars. Thomas hooks us on the nuances she brings to playing well-to-do lesbian Helene, and Nathalie Baye delivers as a tough-as-nails attorney she hires to protect Alex. Hitchcock would be mighty proud of this thrilling, fast-paced mystery, which topped many critics’ 2008 top-ten lists.