MovieChat Forums > Ne le dis à personne (2006) Discussion > This is nuts. The REAL absolute biggest ...

This is nuts. The REAL absolute biggest plot hole.

posted 9 years ago by cscigu
6 replies | jump to latest

With the injuries the pedophile had inflicted on Margot, a case a justifiable homicide was in the bag.

In the USA, she'd have been questioned, released, and patted on the back in short order under whatever circumstances. Women aren't expected to just be beat senseless by criminals.

Even in France, with a father that is police brass, the situation could have be made very presentable with some thought and preparation.

Its a good movie, but without a reason to exist.

[–] castricv 9 years ago

I think you should rethink this. I agree with everything you said self-defense wise, however when viewing a movie you must follow the movie's internal logic. Clearly it was shown on numerous occasions that the Neuville family were willing to destroy and kill to keep up their reputation or son out of jail. Sure, the father could have made it perfectly fine for a case of self defense and hence not guilty in the legal sense, but for the rest of their lives they would live in fear of reprisals.

The biggest plothole is simply in the age of the internet, his wife would simply see that he isn't in fact dead and still practicing medicine, doing Myspace, etc. Since the film said she came back after 8 years solely because he was mentioned in the recent bodies discovery news story shows that she was both keeping up with local news (probably by internet from Spain) and willing to come back regardless of consequences to find him. Hence, the logic completely fails.

This is the biggest problem in most thrillers and mystery movies today: namely technology (cell phones, internet, etc.) would quickly render a movie plot pointless or unrealistic. This is why most movies need to be set in the 80sor 90s at the latest to make sense most of the time. Writers from Hollywood and even Europe still haven't quite updated to the times in their stories that would have worked quite well thirty years ago.

[–] cscigu 9 years ago

You make a good point.

I don't live in that sort of world, so its hard for me to understand a situation where a family has that much power.

In my corner of the world, beating a woman like that will get you shot; and everyone is on board with it.

What you mention about the woman believing her husband dead for all those years is equally nonsensical. Even in the time frame given, it would have been impossible for her not to have realized he was alive.

[–] castricv 9 years ago

Indeed. It was an entertaining piece, but like I mentioned about the 80s, with technology the whole premise falls apart. They could have remedied this by setting the film in the 80s and making it clear to her that any contact with her old life would get them killed.

Cell phones and internet are killing the thriller/mystery genre by shrinking the story possibilities. Writers need to adapt.

Next time you are watching a horror/thriller/mystery consider how many plotholes are created by people having to willfully discount new technologies in order to keep the story going.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] chet19 8 years ago

It was justified...so that gets her out of any LEGAL trouble. But then the victim's father would kill her in a second.
I mean, she was dead, and the father STILL pursued her relentlessly. Imagine what he woulda done if she said, "yeah I killed your son and the law let me walk away."
She didn't cover anything up to save jail time, she did it to save her life.

[–] LordManhammer 7 years ago

Nah, I hear news stories all the time about women being jailed for killing an attacker, including violent husbands and strangers. Both men and women can have trouble with self-defense claims, of course.

The crime scene may have been ambiguous, but on the other hand, the police may have worked out that the beating happened indoors but Margot followed Philippe outside as he was leaving. Regardless, she'd have to explain how she had time to load a shotgun, which suggests it was more of a revenge killing than an absolute necessity to save her own life. We saw from her father's (partly fake) confession to Alexandre that he and many other police and DAs were in Neuville's pocket, so I don't see Margot's defense getting her anywhere.

And even in the real world, I see Margot getting jail time for this, sad to say. Besides, even if you disagree with Margot's father's judgement, that hardly makes a plothole.

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