''The Truth About Charlie'' is a 2002

mystery film A mystery film is a film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur Detective, sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, ...

directed, produced, and co-written by

Jonathan Demme Robert Jonathan Demme ( ; February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker, whose career directing, producing, and screenwriting spanned more than 30 years and 70 feature films, documentaries, and television productions. He was an ...

. A remake of '' Charade'' (1963), it stars

Mark Wahlberg Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), formerly known by his stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, producer, and former rapper. Mark Wahlberg filmography, His work as a leading actor, leading man spans the Comedy film, come ...

and

Thandiwe Newton Melanie Thandiwe Newton ( ; born 6 November 1972), formerly credited as Thandie Newton ( ), is a British actress. She has received various awards, including a Primetime Emmy Award, and a BAFTA Award, as well as nominations for two Golden Globe ...

in the roles played by

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English and American actor. Known for his blended British and American accent, debonair demeanor, lighthearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing, he ...

and

Audrey Hepburn Audrey Kathleen Hepburn ( Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress. Recognised as a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend from the Classical Holly ...

in ''Charade''. The film is also an homage to

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French filmmaker, actor, and critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. He came under the tutelage of film critic Andre Bazin as a ...

's '' Shoot the Piano Player'' (1960) complete with the French film star

Charles Aznavour Charles Aznavour ( ; ; ; born Shahnur Vaghinak Aznavourian; 22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018) was a Armenians in France, French singer and songwriter of Armenian descent. Aznavour was known for his distinctive vibrato tenor voice: clear and ringi ...

, making two appearances singing his song "Quand tu m'aimes" (first in French, later in English). ''The Truth About Charlie'' closely mirrors the plotline of ''Charade''. The story is once again set in Paris and features several famous French actors. Director

Agnès Varda Agnès Varda (; born Arlette Varda; 30 May 1928 – 29 March 2019) was a Belgian-born French film director, screenwriter and photographer. Varda's work employed location shooting in an era when the limitations of sound technology made it easier ...

makes a cameo appearance. Actress/chanteuse

Anna Karina Anna Karina (born Hanne Karin Blarke Bayer; 23 September 1940 – 14 December 2019)

sings a

Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative rel ...

song in one scene.

Peter Stone Peter Stone may refer to: *Pete Stone, Australian footballer in the 1956 Summer Olympics *Peter G. Stone (born 1957), British archaeologist *Peter Stone (cricketer) (born 1938), New Zealand cricketer *Peter Stone (professor) (born 1971), professor ...

, screenwriter of ''Charade'', receives a story credit as Peter Joshua, one of the aliases Grant's character uses in the first film. The name of Wahlberg's character in the remake is Joshua Peters.

Plot

British newlywed Regina Lambert lives in Paris with her husband Charles. She returns home following a short vacation, determined to divorce Charles only to discover their apartment has been stripped bare and that her husband has been murdered. The French police are in her apartment. Charles had liquidated their possessions for $1.8M and the money is missing. Regina is soon reunited with a mysterious stranger Joshua (Mark Wahlberg) she met on her holiday. He helps her piece together the truth about the deceased Charlie and deal with three menacing people who are now following her.

Cast

as Lewis Bartholomew (alias Joshua Peters) *

Stephen Dillane Stephen John Dillane (; born 27 March 1957) is a British actor. He is best known for his roles as Leonard Woolf in the 2002 film ''The Hours (film), The Hours'', Stannis Baratheon in the HBO fantasy series ''Game of Thrones'' (2012–2015) and T ...

as Charlie * Thandie Newton as Regina Lambert * Sakina Jaffrey as Sylvia * Christine Boisson as Commandant Dominique * Simon Abkarian as Lieutenant Dessalines *

Park Joong-hoon Park Joong-hoon (born March 22, 1966) is a South Korean actor. Early life and family Park was born and raised in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, South Korea. He was classmates with retired basketball legend Hur Jae at Yongsan High School and attended ...

as Lee Il-sang * Lisa Gay Hamilton as Lola Jansco *

Ted Levine Frank Theodore Levine (born May 29, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Jame Gumb (Buffalo Bill) in the film '' The Silence of the Lambs'' (1991) and Leland Stottlemeyer in the television series ''Monk'' (2002–2009 ...

as Emil Zadapec * Magali Noël as Mysterious woman in black *

Tim Robbins Timothy Francis Robbins (born October 16, 1958) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Andy Dufresne in the film '' The Shawshank Redemption ''(1994), and Jacob Singer in '' Jacob's Ladder'' (1990), as well as winning an Academy ...

as Carson J. Dyle *

as The widow Hyppolite *

as Himself * Olivier Broche as Aznavour fan * Manno Charlemagne as 'Chez Josephine' Maitre D' *

Anna Karina Anna Karina (born Hanne Karin Blarke Bayer; 23 September 1940 – 14 December 2019)

as Karina * Philippe Katerine as Karina fan * Philippe Duquesne as Café cook * Kenneth Utt as The Late Monsieur Hyppolite * Sotigui Kouyaté as Dealer Prophète * Paula Moore as Ms. Hoskins *

Françoise Bertin Françoise Bertin (23 September 1925 – 26 October 2014) was a French actress. She appeared in over 125 films since 1961. Among these were five films directed by Alain Resnais: '' Last Year at Marienbad'', '' Muriel'', '' The War Is Over'', ...

as Woman on Train * Jason Ainley as Smash Loser * David Barco as Smash Champion * Alban Lenoir as Skinhead

Production

In December 2000, it was announced

was finalizing plans to direct, write and produce a remake of the 1963 film '' Charade'' with

and

in talks to star. Due to how heavily Demme and his co-writers based the film upon ''Charade'', it was determined that original writer

had to be credited, but Stone felt uncomfortable placing his name on the film as he hadn't been involved and opted for the pseudonym Peter Joshua as a reference to an alias used by

's character in ''Charade''. Demme's unorthodox approach to the material was inspired by

French New Wave The New Wave (, ), also called the French New Wave, is a French European art cinema, art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentat ...

and had wanted Universal to include the tagline "When in doubt, laugh" on the film's promotional materials but was rejected.

Reception

''The Truth About Charlie'' has 34% positive reviews on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

from 135 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Newton has star quality, but this exercise in style can't hold a candle to the original."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 55 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

References

External links

Official website
(archived) * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Truth About Charlie 2002 films 2002 crime thriller films 2000s comedy mystery films 2002 romantic comedy films American crime thriller films Remakes of American films American comedy mystery films American neo-noir films French neo-noir films 2000s comedy thriller films Films set in Paris Films directed by Jonathan Demme Films scored by Rachel Portman French remakes of American films Universal Pictures films English-language French films 2000s American films 2000s French films