THE TRUTH ABOUT CHARLIE

US, 2002, 95 minutes, Colour.
Mark Walberg, Thandie Newton, Tim Robbins, Steven Dillane, Ted Levine, Lisa Gaye Hamilton, Christine Boisson, Charles Aznavour, Anna Karina, Magali Noel, Agnes Varda.
Directed by Jonathan Demme.

This modern thriller is based on the 1963 classic Charade. To enjoy Charlie, it would probably be best not to have seen Charade or to have forgotten its detail. After all, it had a suave silver-haired Cary Grant starring with Audrey Hepburn and Walter Matthau as the villain. It was stylish and sophisticated entertainment. It is not intended as a remake but as a different interpretation of characters and their interactions.

Director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia) has admired Charade but he also points out that while it was being filmed in Paris in the early 1960s, many of the classic French New Wave films of Truffaut, Godard, Demy were being shot. These he admires as well. So, this is Charade re-structured in the style of those French films - and including several of its stars, like Charles Aznavour and Anna Karina. He uses handheld cameras to give the film an edgy feel rather than a polished style.

The plot is pretty complicated with a number of the characters playing charades in order to cover a murder or investigate it. The focus is on a young woman, Regina, played by Thandie Newton who starred in Demme's Beloved, whose husband, Charlie, is murdered as the film opens. We then learn more about his shady past, double-dealing with colleagues and pursuit by American authorities. Mark Wahlberg befriends Regina. Is he really a criminal? Defence Operations official, Tim Robbins, helps Regina but lurks in the background. Who is the hero and who is the villain?

We have to keep attentive to appreciate what is going on and what happened in the past so that we can finally discover the truth about Charlie. For those who know and love Paris, the use of the city, almost as a character, will be an added pleasure.

1. An entertaining film? Memories of the 60s and Charade? The New Wave French movies of the period, directors, stars, style?

2. The New Wave style, the hand-held camera, authentic locations, Paris, an edge to the city, a city of rain, the posters of the period, the movies, the cameos from the stars? The musical score?

3. The title, the focus on truth, the focus on Charlie? The mystery, the charades? The ending and knowing the truth?

4. The prologue, Charlie and his style, in the train, with the woman, suave, courtesy, his death? The short marriage, his deceit, the letter to Regina and the sending of the stamps? His mother and her devotion? His work, in the Balkans, the team, the ambush, the deaths, his stealing, on the run?

5. Regina, on holidays, the chance encounter with Joshua and his charm? Meeting by chance in Paris, sharing the taxi? Discovering her apartment empty? The reaction, the police, the news of Charlie's death? The strong personality of the commandant and her assistant? The questions? Joshua appearing again, his help, her attraction? Sharing information, the search, going to the nightclub, the market, the attack in the elevator? The phone calls about him? The call from Mr Bartholomew, the information about Dyle? Her confusion? The set-up, her burning the stamps, the confrontation with the guns? Going back to his office, learning the truth? A put-upon character, charm, audiences identifying emotionally with her?

6. The mystery, the revelations, the Balkans and what actually happened, who was who, the deceits, the identities? The sequences of flashbacks and their fleshing out the mystery?

7. Joshua becoming Dyle? His presence, deliberate? Information? With the three pursuers, the phone call, his deals? The club, dancing, the dangers, the market? His interactions with the commandant? The fight at the market, his running to the apartment, the burning of the stamps? The confrontation with Dyle, the guns, his being a hero, street-wise, though official?

8. The three pursuers, in themselves, the past, their characters, the pursuit of Charlie, with Dyle, the death on the train, the woman being knocked down on the road, the Asian man seemingly dead? The truth?

9. Bartholomew, his phone call, solid character, advice, watching? The truth that he was Dyle, killing the pursuers? The final confrontation, the arrest? The irony of Charlie's mother killing him in prison?

10. The mother, her grief, trying to run over Regina, at the prison at the end?

11. The commandant, as a personality, doing her job, the questions, the cigarettes? Her relationship with her assistant? Involvement in the case?

12. The American government, the pursuit of the criminals, the showdown? The real Bartholomew in his real office?

13. The Parisian flavour and the memories of the past, Charles Aznavour and the fantasy of his appearing in song and at the end, Anna Karina and her singing in the club, Magali Noel as the widow in black that Regina saw at beginning an end? The other guest cameos? Giving a particular flavour to the film?