"Mobile phones have become the black box of couples, don't you think? Can you think of the number of divorces if everyone snooped on their partner's phone?"
Nothing To Hide (Le Jeu, "The Game") is a dramatic comedy movie by Fred Cavayé.—Marie
A group of old friends gets together for a dinner party, and after debating about the use of cellphones, privacy, and couples, they decide to play a game in which they all put their phones at the table and, whenever one of them rings, all of them can hear and see the message or call that the phone received, no matter who called. This results in secrets being revealed all around.
Bérénice Bejo stars as Marie, who is hosting the party along with her husband Vincent. This is one of five versions over three years made of the same story, which was first made in Italy in 2016 as Perfect Strangers and has also been made in Spain (Perfect Strangers), South Korea (Intimate Strangers) and Russia (Love Connection).
Tropes
- All Just a Dream: In the end, all is back to normal. Marie and Vincent discuss in their apartment that they never actually got to play the game and it's implied that most of the movie was a what-if scenario played about what would have happened if they had actually played the game.
- Awful Wedded Life: Marco and Charlotte are constantly bickering about their children and his mother, their presence in their life and so on. When the game is suggested, it's clear both are interested in it as a way to confirm their suspicions that the other is cheating, but at the same time shaking.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- Vincent is introduced looking at pictures of breasts in his phone, which makes him look like a cheater. It turns out that these were merely medical photos, since he is a plastic surgeon and those pictures were of his patients. He is in fact one of the few characters not cheating.
- One of the final calls that Thomas receives reveals that he has bought a necklace and earrings. Léa assumes he bought the earrings for a woman at his work with whom he cheated on her. While he did cheat on her with that women, the earrings were for Marie, with whom he also cheated on her.
- Bleak Abyss Retirement Home: Discussed Trope. Charlotte is planning to send the mother-in-law she can't stand to a retirement community, just one of the secrets revealed during the evening.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: Vincent and Marie's daughter Margot, who is going out to her own party the night that her parents are off to theirs. Marie does not approve of her daughter's trashy clothes and a nasty fight erupts when Marie searches Margot's bag and finds a box of condoms. It turns out that Margot is contemplating giving up her virginity and Vincent gave her the condoms.
- Daddy's Girl: Margot and her mother Marie are given to nasty arguments but she's very close to her father. She has approached her father, not her mom, for advice about having sex, and Marie is hurt when Margot over the phone tells Vincent that her mom is annoying.
- Downer Ending: The events of the game never happened and were all just a what if scenario, meaning that the secrets were never revealed. While this means that the status quo was maintained, it means that Thomas, Marie, Charlotte and Marcos are still cheating on their spouses, with Thomas having now a bastard child on the way. Charlotte and Marco's marriage is still damaged despite the fact that revealing their infidelity would be the first step towards making up. Ben is still in the closet to his friends and still unaware they kicked him out of the football team. Vincent is still unaware that Marie is cheating on him and Marie is still unaware that Thomas has yet another woman, that Vincent is seeing a shrink secretly and that her daughter hates her.
- Dramatic Drop: Charlotte drops the phone in shock when a text from Ben's boyfriend Julien says that "he misses your lips." Marco and Ben switched phones so Charlotte thinks the text from a gay boyfriend is meant for her husband.
- Extremely Short Timespan: A couple of hours, during a dinner party and total eclipse.
- Girlfriend in Canada: Ben claims that he has a girlfriend but that she couldn't make it for the dinner, and he's oddly circumspect about her. In fact he has a boyfriend.
- Honesty Is the Best Policy: Ultimately the movie's Aesop. Having their secrets laid out in front of others is a miserable and nerve-wrecking experience, but also teaches each member their shortcomings and who their real friends are. By learning of the others secrets, Marco and Charlotte ask for forgiveness for their infidelity and would attempt to heal their marriage; Ben finds genuine camaraderie with Léa; Léa is set to leave her cheating boyfriend; and Marie learns of her failings as a mother and also leaves her lover. The Downer Ending ends up being not that those secrets were revealed, but that since It Was All A Dream, they weren't.
- Hypocrite:
- Charlotte. She freaks out at the idea that Marco is cheating on her with another man and quickly becomes deranged, however, it's not long after that she receives a message proving she has also been having a virtual affair.
- Thomas. He becomes enraged when he thinks that Léa's ex is still interested in her due to mistaking the meaning of his messages to her. When she proves that she has been only giving him relationship advice, he still asks her to stop talking to him. In the final act, however, it's revealed he was the one cheating on her with two women, one at his job, whom he has gotten pregnant, and another one is Marie, his friend's wife.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Charlotte retreats to the kitchen and starts pounding wine in earnest after finding out, mistakenly, that her husband has a boyfriend.
- Insistent Terminology: Charlotte gets agitated when Marco uses the word "home" to describe the old folks' home where Charlotte wants to send his mom.Charlotte: It's not a home! It's a residence!
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Charlotte does not get on with her mother-in-law, whom the other guests describe with a French phrase translated as "ball-buster". It seems that the presence of Marco's mother in the home as a divisive force has helped end Charlotte and Marco's sex life.
- Total Eclipse of the Plot: The dinner party is timed for the night of a total eclipse of the moon. It's implied that something magical about the eclipse is the cause for the All Just a Dream alternate reality plot.
- Unreveal Angle: The X-rated photo that Marco's internet girlfriend texted him is never shown, but everybody is shocked.
- Wedding Ring Removal: Lea pulls off her wedding ring and drops it in a wine glass after finding out that her husband Thomas has impregnated another woman.
- White Sheep: By the end of the movie, Ben, Vincent, and Lea are the only ones with nothing compromising or hurtful done against their partners and friends. The secrets they did keep are justifiable and harmless.
- With Friends Like These...: It's made clear that despite being long time friends, some of the friendships the group have are not exactly healthy. Ben never came out to them because he knew they were homophobic and has no interest in introducing Julien to them, especially after seeing Thomas and Charlotte's bouts of homophobic behavior, which Léa agrees with. Thomas had also been sleeping with Vincent's wife, despite being his long time friend.
