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Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Alessio Boni, Stefania Rocca, Angela Finocchiaro, Giuseppe Battiston ... see more see more... , Luigi Lo Cascio , Valerio Binasco , Francesca Inaudi , Lucy Akhurst , Lewis Lemperuer Palmer , Jeke-Omer Boyayanlar , Simona Lisi

Dark shadows from a woman's past come back to haunt her in this drama from writer and director Cristina Comencini. Sabina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) would seem to have a charmed life -- she has a successf... read more read more...ul career as a voice actress, a loving and supportive relationship with her boyfriend, Franco (Alessio Boni), and a pair of close friends she can confide in, Maria (Angela Finocchiaro) and Emilia (Stefania Rocca). But Sabina's contented existence is shattered when she inadvertently dredges up a long-dormant memory of how during her childhood she was sexually abused by her father. Confused and ashamed, Sabina finds it impossible to talk about her memories with Franco and her friends, but the terrible images refuse to go away. Seeking closure, Sabina travels to the United States to talk to the one person who may have a true insight to her problems, her brother, Daniele (Luigi Lo Cascio). Originally released in Italy as La Bestia nel Cuore, Don't Tell premiered at the 2005 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

54% liked it

2,851 ratings

Critics

29% liked it

21 critics

R, 2 hr.

Directed by: Cristina Comencini

Release Date: March 17, 2005

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DVD Release Date: August 15, 2006

Stats: 68 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (68)

  • gator681
    July 27, 2007
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic]In "Don't Tell," Sabina(Giovanna Mezzogiorno) dubs television shows into Italian for a living and lives with her boyfriend, Franco(Alessio Boni), a theatre actor who has just been offered a plum role in a TV medical drama. In her spare time, she visits her b... read morelind friend, Emilia(Stefania Rocca), who has a long-simmering crush on her. As Sabina is in the process of transferring her parents' remains while considering starting a family, she has a nightmare indicating that she may have been sexually abused as a child. She decides to visit her brother, Daniele(Luigi Lo Cascio), a professor at the University of Virginia, who she has not seen in several years, to get some answers...[/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]"Don't Tell" is a mildly interesting movie but there is not much drama beyond a couple of obvious revelations. It does not help that the subplots take center stage for a good deal of the film, either. And it is strange that the most memorable part of the film is the architecture.(Even Emilia's grotto is cool.)[/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]The movie is about family, extended and otherwise, and how through miscommunication, incidents from the past are avoided until they become toxic. But secrets never stay buried forever, do they? So, looking back at one's formative years, there may be a certain amount of pain which leads to anxiety when contemplating a possible future of a family of one's own.[/font]
  • mvieaddict
    May 22, 2010
    mvieaddict
    This Italian movie, La Bestia Nel Cuore was also an Oscar nominated movie in 2005. It was based on her own novel "The Beast in the heart," director Cristina Comencini showed with this movie an issue of family secrets. Through Sabina, played by beautifully Giovanna Mezzogiorno, an... read morexieties, nightmares, and through her brother Daniele's flashbacks of his childhood , to what their parents did to them, we could feel the painful memories.There were some subplots, like the infidelity of Franco while Sabina was away, a lesbian relationship that developed between Emilia and Maria which was not really necessary, along the main story of incest, it could only make it distracting.The message brought over from this movie was no matter how low you might have reached in your life,or how damaged you feel, there will always be a chance to renew and silence the demons from the past.

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Critic Reviews

Claudia Puig
March 24, 2006
Claudia Puig, USA Today

Don't Tell, Italy's submission for the foreign-language Oscar, has strong performances, but the story takes too long to get off the ground. Full Review

Ruthe Stein
March 17, 2006
Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle

Well worth seeing for its sensitive and never maudlin portrayal of a sister and brother bonded together by a family secret. Full Review

Stephen Whitty
March 17, 2006
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

It manages to treat a disturbing subject without despairing. Full Review

Kyle Smith
March 17, 2006
Kyle Smith, New York Post

Days of Our Lives fans, enjoy.

Kevin Crust
March 16, 2006
Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times

A persuasive if not groundbreaking drama. Full Review

Stephen Holden
March 16, 2006
Stephen Holden, New York Times

Don't Tell, which was unaccountably nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film, is no better than a second-tier candidate for the Lifetime Channel. Full Review

Deborah Young
March 16, 2006
Deborah Young, Variety

The lifelong shame and trauma experienced by the victims of childhood incest are grippingly dramatized by Cristina Comencini, consummate mistress of Italian family drama, in Don't Tell, probably her m... Full Review

Jan Stuart
March 16, 2006
Jan Stuart, Newsday

Comencini translates these tensions from her novel Beast in the Heart with a literal hand that is inclined to underscore anguished looks with explanatory flashbacks. Full Review

Michael Atkinson
March 14, 2006
Michael Atkinson, Village Voice

A paradigmatically mediocre foreign-film-Oscar nominee. Full Review

Ray Bennett
October 24, 2005
Ray Bennett, Hollywood Reporter

Powerfully moving but laced with incisive wit.

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  • One one this movie's taglines is: No rules. No curfews. No nagging. No pulse.  Answer »
  • "They say time freezes when you first see your true love. What they don't tell you is that, when time starts up again, it moves super fast to make up for it."  Answer »
  • What does Shrek tell Donkey after he sings "I'm all alone" in the movie Shrek?  Answer »
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