THE TRUTH ABOUT CHARLIE -----------------------
Returning home to Paris with divorce on her mind, Regina Lambert (Thandie Newton, "Besieged") finds husband Charles (Stephen Dillane, "Welcome to Sarajevo) murdered and her apartment and bank account emptied. Threatened by three of her husband's former colleagues and helped by a mysterious stranger (Mark Wahlberg) who always pops up at opportune moments, Regina is about to discover "The Truth About Charlie."
Jonathan Demme's ("The Silence of the Lambs") remake of the 1963 Stanley Donen classic "Charade" maintains the core story and location while giving things an entirely new spin. Paris locations inspired Demme to pay tribute to the French New Wave of the 1960's and his inspiration from a past generation's cinema makes "The Truth About Charlie" fresh, jazzy and fun.
Police Commandant Dominique (Christine Boisson) is suspicious of both Regina and her new found friend, but Regina agrees to work with her and Lieutenant Dessalines (Simon Abkarian). She's then hustled into a Ferris wheel by Mr. Bartholomew (Tim Robbins), an American agent demanding secrecy, who shows Regina a picture of Charlie as part of a special forces unit in the Bosnian war. Bartholomew warns that the other two men and women in the picture are all looking for the $6 million Charlie stole in diamonds and they all think she has it. One by one, Regina is contacted by the trio - Lola (Lisa Gay Hamilton), Emil (Ted Levin) and Il-sang (Joong-Hoon Park). They in turn implicate Joshua (Wahlberg), the man Regina's trusted and begun to fall for, who begins a chameleon act. It seems Charlie isn't the only man in Regina's life with a cover story nor the only dead body she'll encounter before the truth is known.
Thandie Newton owns this film. She has the elegance and gamine-like quality of "Charade's" Audrey Hepburn with the modern day ability to keep her lying lover at arm's length. Wahlberg can't be expected to fill the shoes of Cary Grant, but he's the lovestruck one here and he acquits himself well, even tossing off a line or two in French (wearing a beret no less). We want him to get the girl. Strongest support comes from Robbins, the only player to obviously tip his hat to his predecessor, (he flattens his line readings so that one can't but help think of Walter Matthau) and Boisson as the highly intelligent police officer.
Demme uses old pros like Charles Aznavour ("Shoot the Piano Player") and Anna Karina (Godard's early films) entertainingly with each popping up to sing plot advancing tunes in self aware scenes that fit this giddy film's mood. Filmmaker Agnes Godard ("Cleo from 5 to 7") appears out of an alley in a cameo. The director also names Regina and Joshua's lodgings Hotel Langlois after the man who founded the Cinematheque Francaise film archive (and the real hoteliers were so enchanted they kept the name after filming).
Tak Fujimoto's artful handheld camera, which was never once locked down during this shoot, captures today's Paris with a look that echoes the newness of the city we saw in "Breathless." Charlie, whom we only see before his demise on a passenger train, is kept 'alive' when his POV is used by Fujimoto's camera whenever his body's in the scene.
A terrific soundtrack uses French colonial ties to Middle Eastern, Caribbean and African music.
Demme, his crew and his actors kept me chuckling throughout this film with their inventiveness. "The Truth About Charlie" is a giddy ride, the romantic comedy thriller equivalent of this year's "The Bourne Identity." Stick around for Demme's self parody of "The Silence of the Lambs" over the closing credits.
B+
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