Don't Tell (2005)

29% of critics liked it
(21 reviews)
54% of users liked it
(2,852 ratings)

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 successful career as a voice actress, a loving and supportive relationship with her boyfriend, Franco… More 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 successful 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

Rating, Runtime: R, 2 hr.
Directed By: Cristina Comencini
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Mar 17, 2005 Wide
On DVD: Aug 15, 2006
Studio: Lionsgate

Critic Reviews

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.
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.
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
It manages to treat a disturbing subject without despairing.
Kyle Smith, New York Post
Days of Our Lives fans, enjoy.
Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times
A persuasive if not groundbreaking drama.
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.
Susan Michals, FilmStew.com
The film meanders and becomes painfully arbitrary in its storyline... Child abuse + funny lesbians = hilarious!!!
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Though tackling such potentially subversive subjects as incest and lesbianism, this inexplicably Oscar-nominee from Italy is basically a Lifetime Original performed as a magic show.
Kim Morgan, Reel.com
Here's the problem with Cristina Comencini's Don't Tell: it should have been directed by Pedro Almodovar.
Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide
It's swiftly paced and never dull, but the heavy-handed symbolism comes fast and thick.
Peter Canavese, Groucho Reviews
Just because American films frequently exploit repressed memories as a plot device in nasty genre pictures doesn't make the genteel Don't Tell a sophisticated or particularly insightful film.
Edward Douglas, ComingSoon.net
Goes off on too many tangents from the central story with irrelevant subplots that might actually have been decent movies on their own.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
A not-bad soap opera.
Arthur Lazere, culturevulture.net
A well-acted melodrama with some engaging characters and a storyline that holds the attention
Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly
Such tales are the issue du jour stateside, which makes Don't Tell's slavish adherence to Dr. Phil-inspired recovered-memory orthodoxies seem more than a touch ingenuous.
Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
Comencini is attempting to put on some kind of show about modern gender and sexuality issues, but that's all it is: a show, and a fatuous one at that.

Read all 16 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Walter M

[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… More
[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 blind 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]
Daisy M

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… More
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, anxieties, 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.