The Truth About Charlie (2002)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Jonathan Demme

Writers (WGA):

Peter Stone (1963 screenplay Charade)
Jonathan Demme (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

25 October 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

A young woman in Paris is about to divorce her husband when she discovers... he's dead; and all their money is gone...

Plot Keywords:

Divorce | Diamond | Stamp Collecting | Bathroom | Fleamarket

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Olga Sékulic	...	Junior Military Officer
Stephen Dillane	...	Charlie
Françoise Bertin	...	Woman on Train
Thandie Newton	...	Regina Lambert
Cassius Kumar Wilkinson	...	Hercules
Sakina Jaffrey	...	Sylvia
Mark Wahlberg	...	Joshua Peters
Christine Boisson	...	Commandant Dominique
Simon Abkarian	...	Lieutenant Dessalines
Christophe Salengro	...	Morgue Attendant
Philippe Fretun	...	Evidence Handler
Loïza Jacq	...	Evidence Handler (as Loeïza Jacq)
Joong-Hoon Park	...	Il-Sang Lee
Lisa Gay Hamilton	...	Lola Jansco
Ted Levine	...	Emil Zadapec

Also Known As:

Die Wahrheit über Charlie (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some violence and sexual content/nudity.

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English | French | Arabic

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Finland:K-11 | Netherlands:6 | Canada:PG | France:U | Germany:12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Spain:7 | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 | Australia:M | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Cimetière de Montmarte, Paris 18, Paris, France

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

The movie contains numerous connections to French New Wave films. Reference is made to Tirez sur le pianiste (1960) and its star, Charles Aznavour, has a singing role at the end of this movie. Anna Karina, featured in several Jean-Luc Godard films, has a bit part.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Regina is attacked by Zadapec in the elevator and Joshua pulls him off her, he tells her to take the elevator up and you see the elevator start going up. However, the next camera shot from her view is with the elevator going down.

Quotes:

Joshua Peters: Reggie, I hate that you're caught up in this. But at the same time I'm glad, because it means we've met.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Entourage: Unlike a Virgin (#5.2)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

The Spirit of Uluru

In an overall comparison between the "Charade" and `Charlie,' the latter is the imposter-no ambiguity intended.

So Cary grant and Audrey Hepburn are unfortunately dead. That means director Jonathan Demme (`Silence of the Lambs') must find suitable replacements for his remake of `Charade' called `The Truth about Charlie.' Will Smith was his first choice-Mark Wahlberg (`Planet of the Apes') took the Grant role. Thandi Newton (`Mission Impossible 2') plays Hepburn's role. Neither carries the film, which requires a certain amount of international sophistication and charm.

Set in Paris, `The Truth about Charlie' starts with a murder and the victim's money, which everyone seems to want. It has touches of the old American love of Paris, e.g., the tower appears regularly. But it is a more modern Paris than the original film's: Cinematographer Tak Fujimoto (`Signs' `The Silence of the Lambs') said, `We wanted to make the city feel mysterious and scary. We wanted it overcast and gray-different from the traditional view of Paris, more realistic, more paranoid.'

A Ferris-wheel scene with Wahlberg and Tim Robbins, who reprises the Walter Matthau role, evokes the mystery and danger of Sir Carol Reed's `Third Man.' That most American of images, the incarcerated Hannibal Lecter, ends the film with a fitting tribute to his invulnerability.

Back to Wahlberg and Newton. The success of the film, then and now, rests with the leads, and they failed. Wahlberg is flat, expressionless, 2 dimensional. Newton lacks the acting chops to navigate the aftershocks of a husband's murder and the barrage of interest in his money, hidden somewhere in plain sight. Robbins comes closest to a screen presence, part mountebank, part protector, and part enigma.

The original title `Charade' better expresses the delicious ambiguity of European intrigue where nothing is as it seems, and people are not what they appear. In this regard, `Charlie' fulfills the promise. For a modern look, it also succeeds.

But in an overall comparison between the 2 films, `Charlie' is the imposter-no ambiguity intended.