The Truth About Charlie is a remake of Charade with Cary Grant and done with a few twists that make it interesting. A well to do couple in Paris are headed for divorce. The woman finds out her husband is dead before she gets the chance to ask for the divorce. She finds this out when she returns to their residence to find everything in it is gone. Two members of the French police are there and inform her of her husbands death. She encounters several people who want money stolen by her husband.
The Truth About Charlie is a 2002 American-French film. It is a remake of Charade (1963) and an homage to François Truffaut’s Shoot the Piano Player (1960) complete with the French film’s star, Charles Aznavour, making two surreal appearances singing his song “Quand tu m’aimes” (first in French, later in English). The film was produced, directed and co-written by Jonathan Demme, and stars Mark Wahlberg and Thandie Newton in the roles once played by Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn in Charade.
This version closely mirrors the plotline of the original film. It is once again set in Paris and features several famous French actors. Director Agnès Varda made a cameo appearance. Actress/Chanteuse Anna Karina sings a Serge Gainsbourg song in one scene. Peter Stone, screenwriter of Charade, receives a story credit as “Peter Joshua,” which was one of the identities Grant’s character used in the first film. Stone disliked the remake and refused to be credited under his real name. The name of Wahlberg’s character in the remake is “Joshua Peters.”
The film received a poor reception from critics and was a flop at the box office, bringing only $7 million worldwide. The original Charade accidentally slipped into the public domain. Universal had never bothered to release it officially on DVD, until it was included as a bonus feature on the B-side of the Charlie DVD. They previously licensed it to The Criterion Collection, while numerous unofficial DVDs had been released worldwide.
The Truth About Charlie (2002)
Directed by: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Thandie Newton, Tim Robbins, Joong-Hoon Park, Ted Levine, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Christine Boisson, Stephen Dillane, Charles Aznavour, Anna Karina, Magali Noël
Screenplay by: Jonathan Demme, Steve Schmidt, Peter Stone
Production Design by: Hugo Luczyc-Wyhowski
Cinematography by: Tak Fujimoto
Film Editing by: Carol Littleton
Costume Design by: Catherine Leterrier
Set Decoration by: Aline Bonetto
Art Direction by: Bertrand Clercq-Roques, Delphine Mabed, Ford Wheeler
Music by: Rachel Portman
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some violence and sexual content / nudity.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: October 25, 2002
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