TELL-TALE

US, 2009, 93 minutes, Colour.
Josh Lucas, Lena Headey, Brian Cox, Beatrice Miller, Jamie Harrold, Michael Kenneth Williams, Ulrich Thomsen, Dallas Roberts.
Directed by Michael Cuesta.

Tell- Tale takes its name and a feature from Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell- Tale Heart.

Josh Lucas portrays a man who has had a heart transplant. The heart gradually alerts him to the memories of the original donor who was murdered with his wife in a robbery. The man with the transplant begins to see the robbery, also senses the presence of those who killed the donor. He is compelled to kill the robbers. However, the story is complicated because a detective was having an affair with the murdered woman. It also appears that donors were targeted by a racket, operating from the hospital including orderlies and a doctor.

As the presence of the donor overwhelms the man with the transplant, he worries about his sanity, his relationship with his daughter’s doctor, his concern about his daughter’s illness and her treatment.

There is a final confrontation, as expected. However, there is a final twist when the doctor admits that she put an order in for the heart for the transplant, not necessarily acknowledging the way that it was obtained, but leaving a sense of uneasiness for the future of the relationship.

Josh Lucas is the man with the transplant. Lena Headey is the British doctor. Brian Cox is the detective in pursuit of the killers. The director has mainly worked in television series like Six Feet Under and Dexter. He has directed the film L.I.E. as well as 12 and Holding and Roadie.

1. An offbeat thriller? Psychological drama?

2. Edgar Allen Poe, The Tell- Tale Heart – the updating of the inspiration from his story?

3. The American city setting, ordinary life, hospitals, the ghettos? The musical score?

4. The opening situation, the murder and robbery? The victim and his wife? Being a donor? The hospital, the surgery for Terry’s transplant?

5. Terry, the operation, its success, the deep scar? In himself, his health? His relationship with his daughter, the bond between the two, his concern about her health? With Elizabeth, the discussions, the prospects?

6. The Tell- Tale Heart, Terry and his looking at documents, finding the identity of the donor, learning what happened to him? His panic? His being near the orderly in the alley? The effect on him? His killing him, fleeing?

7. Being in the hospital, his agitation near the second orderly, the pursuit, death?

8. The investigations by the police, Terry and his seeing Philip Van Doren? Van Doren and his harsh attitude? The revelation of his affair with the murdered woman?

9. Terry’s daughter, Angela? Her health? With Elizabeth, the work together? The tests? The outings? The bond between the two? The possibility of a future family?

10. The conspiracy at the hospital, the doctors, the surgeons, the plans? The trafficking in organs? The confrontation with Terry? The admission of the guilt? The plan for Terry to die?

11. The build-up to the confrontation, Philip Van Doren, the doctor, the surgeon?

12. The prospects of a happy ending? Terry healed of his donor’s vengeance? Elizabeth’s revelation that she had ordered the heart? Not necessarily involved in the conspiracy – but dealing in organ trading? The insecurity for the future relationship, the uncertainty at the ending of the film?