A little long but within lies a nice surprise

May 10, 2012

Little White Lies is a brilliant mix of comedy and drama, and light-heartedness and seriousness. Writer and director Guillaume Canet, known for Tell No One, has assembled a fantastic group of actors and created what is a great story about friendship and all that it entails. The titular white lies are the lies we tell ourselves and others – to feel better, to bury uncomfortable truths, to forget about painful realities. However, in a tightly-knit group of friends, such as we see on screen, they tend to surface and blow up in their faces. Especially when they have experienced a shock that is the hospitalisation of one of their friends (Dujardin, in colour!) Despite that, they travel from Paris for their annual holidays at the seaside. All with their own secrets and troubles that lead to some very emotional scenes.

The chemistry between the actors and, by extension, the characters they portray, is tangible and incredibly authentic, partly because they are friends in real life, partly because they got the opportunity to hang out together on the set prior to filming, so they got the feel of the place and established certain dynamics within the group. Max, played by Cluzet, is a particularly interesting character – he’s very ambiguous and dealing with a lot of emotions. In fact, all the characters have such distinct personalities that everyone can find one to root for or relate to.
The balance between comedy and drama is established pretty well. The film is serious when it needs to be, but doesn’t just flood us with gloom.

The sober scenes are quickly followed by amusing ones, and the humour is not forced, a big plus for seemingly not trying to be funny.

The soundtrack is amazing – it’s clear it was chosen very carefully. It features some well-known names, for example: Bowie, Joplin, Bonnie Tyler, etc. Sometimes the songs are played instead of dialogue and it works well.

The direction and acting was superb. Little While Lies shows a realistic vision of adult friendships with enough drama and humour to sit well with a variety of viewers.