Nothing To Hide (4 Stars)

Netflix Thursday #1

After some hesitation I've finally started my Netflix Thursday feature. I intend to watch a film streamed by Netflix every Thursday. This doesn't mean I've never watched films on Netflix before now. I've been subscribing to Netflix for almost five years. In the past I didn't usually mention that I watched a film on Netflix. This will change things. It will motivate me to look for good films on Netflix.

I need motivation. I said that I intended to watch "Le Jeu" two years ago, Yes, two whole years ago, in my review of "Das Perfekte Geheimnis". Why did I wait so long? I don't know. Did I forget? Maybe I did.

"Le Jeu" means "The Game", but it was called "Nothing To Hide" when it was released in America. It was made in 2018, and it's a remake of the 2016 Italian film "Perfetti Sconosciuti" ("Perfect Strangers"). The Italian film is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's most remade film. In the last five years it's been remade 18 times. Something about the film has captured the imagination of people worldwide, in countries as diverse as India, Spain, Russia, China and Turkey. The only language in which the film hasn't yet been remade is English. Harvey Weinstein bought the rights for the film shortly before he went on trial, so the English language remake has been put on hold indefinitely.

The film is about four middle-aged couples who meet for dinner on the evening of a lunar eclipse. Actually, it's only three and a half couples, because the girlfriend of one of the men doesn't turn up. Some of them have known each other for 25 years. They decide to play a game to prove that they completely trust one another. They all put their mobile phones on the table. Any phone calls have to be answered on speaker phone. And text messages or emails have to be read aloud.

The seven people, four men and three women, begin the evening as friends and lovers, but a few hours later they're fighting against one another as enemies.

This is the third version of the film I've seen so far. I still haven't seen the original, an error that I hope to correct soon. The French version has a twist at the end which is missing from the Spanish and German versions that I've seen so far. It would be good to see the original version as the benchmark against which the remakes have to be measured.

Success Rate:  - 0.5