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MovieMail's Review
A breezy comedy turns into a deeper exploration of fractured human dramas in this excellent drama from Guillaume Canet, the director of Tell No One. Alex Davidson takes a look.
Guillaume Canet took a real risk with his second feature. Following the critical and commercial success of his marvellous thriller Tell No One (currently the subject of an American remake), he has leapt into very different territory with his sophomore effort, Little White Lies. Recalling the narrative of Lawrence Kasdan’s The Big Chill, the film follows a group of Parisians who flee the capital for their annual summer holiday in the country. One of their number is left behind, having suffered a serious accident in the film’s brilliant opening sequence. At the villa, the secrets and tensions behind the friends’ relationships gradually unravel over a fortnight, and the film evolves from a breezy comedy into something much deeper.
The perpetually anxious Max (François Cluzet) is in more of a state than usual as a male friend (Benoît Magimel) has confessed romantic feelings for him. Marie (Marion Cotillard) continues to avoid commitment following yet another one night stand, womaniser Éric (Gilles Lellouche) realises he cannot continue his ways, and Antoine (Laurent Lafitte) tries to get over a recent break-up.
The lengthy running time was a risky strategy for Canet - similar dramas rarely last for over two and a half hours, yet the time allows a great empathy with the characters. The well-observed characters are believably human, sometimes unsympathetic and occasionally self-destructive, and each cast member gives a superb portrait of post-twentysomething malaise. Tell No One star Cluzet is magnificent as the pompous and tense leader of the pack, and the revelation of his friend’s crush is one of the film’s undoubted highlights. Cotillard (Canet’s real-life partner), who in spite of an Oscar and a successful Hollywood career (Inception, Nine) is still attracted to intelligent independent drama, steals scenes as the flawed and rebellious Marie.
As sharp as Canet’s script is, it is often the moments when the characters fail to communicate their complex emotions that are the most moving moments, while the glorious sunny scenery acts as an ironic backdrop to the fractured human dramas. It is to be hoped that Canet, a talented and successful actor, continues his unpredictable and provocative directing career.
A drama from director Guillaume Canet, Little White Lies sees a group of friends trying to escape their problems by going on a trip to the seaside together. Eric (Gilles Lellouche), Vincent (Benoit Magimel), Max (Francois Cluzet), Marie (Marion Cotillard) and Antoine (Laurent Lafitte) are horrified by the news that their friend Ludo (Jean Dujardin) has been badly injured in a drunken car crash. They decide not to postpone their holiday, and escape to a picturesque beach house. Despite their intentions to relax, however, they find themselves caught in a web of long-repressed lust and emotion.
"Beautiful French people behaving badly" -
Sidney Whitaker on 6th January 2012
A very self-indulgent, barely scripted home movie style picture, with a group of fairly beautiful Parisian actor-friends holidaying and larking on and off a beutiful G... more >
A very self-indulgent, barely scripted home movie style picture, with a group of fairly beautiful Parisian actor-friends holidaying and larking on and off a beutiful Gascony beach. The DVD's extras and gag shots are very revealing of how the cast are instructed to (mis)behave, to have conduct rather than a script imposed on them.
The early horrific scooter crash is sensational for the viewer, but mostly forgotten by the players, whose final powerful display of grief, at the funeral (nearly two hours of film later) is so out of character that it doesn't properly connect with their previous frivolity. This disjunction means that the intended exposure of their little white deceptions does not emerge. Subtitles are excellent, as the dialogue is rapid and curtailed. If you like the songs as much as the characters do, that will help. < less
