Nobody Has to Know
Amnesia leads to a possibility of romance in Bouli Lanners’ first English-language feature, set in the Outer Hebrides.
It's quite surprising to discover the extent to which this film shares common ground with My Sailor, My Love which was released in the UK last March. Both are works that bring more quality than might be anticipated to a story that involves a romance between people who are no longer young and that theme means that the main target audience for both consists of older viewers. However, the coincidental parallels between the two movies go much further than that. In My Sailor, My Love the story played out in Ireland but the film was made by Klaus Härö from Finland who was directing his first English language work. In Nobody Has to Know the location is the Outer Hebrides, the islands of Lewis and Harris, and the filmmaker is from Belgium. As with Härö, Bouli Lanners was involved for the first time in an English language piece. But he has taken it much further since, in addition to directing, Lanners has written the screenplay in collaboration with Stéphane Malandrin and takes the leading male role himself. The character in question, Philippe Haubin, is indeed Belgian but, save for a few scenes, this film finds Lanners acting for once in English.
Nobody Has to Know has two characters at its centre. Philippe, who is living in Scotland and is helping out on a farm there owned by Angus MacPherson (Julian Glover), is one of them. The other is the unmarried middle-aged daughter of the said Angus MacPherson – that's Millie (Michelle Fairley) who works as an estate agent. Millie’s brother Peter (Cal MacAninch) and her nephew Brian (Andrew Still) also work the land but these characters have hardly been established before there is a key plot development. Philippe has a stroke and is taken to a hospital in Inverness. Before long he is indeed back but he is suffering from retrograde amnesia and the loss of memory means that he remembers nothing about his past life. Consequently, he no longer recognises the people around him, not even Millie although her concern for him establishes that they are close. Indeed, before long she is confiding the fact that for some months they have been lovers.
The ultimate resolution of the tale again echoes that in My Sailor, My Love, but the central issue of Philippe’s amnesia appears, for a while at least, to link Nobody Has to Know with a much older work, James Hilton’s highly popular Random Harvest first published as long ago as 1941. However, the crucial feature of Nobody Has to Know is that, like My Sailor, My Love, it has been made with the intention of playing down any elements close to melodrama. Indeed, Lanners approaches his material in a way which makes admirable use of the location (the film often takes on a poetic tone and has been shot in widescreen and colour by Frank van den Eeden) and, especially in the first half, he moves the story forward well while still taking his time. It helps that we are drawn in by both of the central characters. Philippe’s memory loss invites us to puzzle over the man's past (he has an estranged brother who eventually turns up) and, if that makes him intriguing, Millie in turn is portrayed by Michelle Fairley as a somewhat solitary figure who very readily encourages an empathetic response from the viewer.
Those who enjoyed My Sailor, My Love (and those to whom I personally recommended it certainly did) may well appreciate this film too although overall it is not quite so successful. The shaping of the story in the second half leaves something to be desired and, good as Fairley and Lanners are, they are outclassed by their rivals, the remarkable Brid Brennan and James Cosmo. Even so, quality work aimed at older viewers is not easy to find and Nobody Has to Know is certainly good enough for me to assert with confidence that its target audience will gain much pleasure from it.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Michelle Fairley, Bouli Lanners, Andrew Still, Julian Glover, Cal MacAninch, Clovis Cornillac, Ainsley Jordan, Therese Bradley, Paul Amed.
Dir Bouli Lanners and Tim Mielants, Pro Jacques-Henri Bronckart, Screenplay Bouli Lanners and Stéphane Malandrin, Ph Frank va den Eeden, Pro Des Paul Rouschop and Julien Denis, Ed Ewin Ryckaeri, Music Pascal Humbert and Sébastien Willemyns, Costumes Elise Ancion.
Versus Production/Barry Crerar/Playtime/Prime Time/Proximus-Parkland Entertainment.
99 mins. Belgium/UK/France. 2020. UK Rel: 3 November 2023. Cert. 12A.
