The TV Show Secret Life Of Us showed us all that a drama about a group of 20-40 year olds can be an absolute winner, now French film Little White Lies takes that idea and places a defibrillator over it’s heart. The result is an amazing film that despite running for nearly three hours keeps you captivated from start to finish.
Every year Max (Francois Cluzet – White Snow, In The Beginning) and Vero (Valerie Bonneton – Forbidden House, Summer Hours) invite a group of their friends to their beach house and even though their friend Ludo (Jean Duhardin – The Clink Of Ice, Lucky Luke) is involved in a life-threatening accident before they leave they still decide to go on their annual journey. However, soon Ludo is put to the back of their minds when Vincent (Benoit Magimel – The Counsel, Traceless) decides to tell Max that he loves him despite being married to Isabelle (Pascale Arbillot – Borderline, JeN’ai Rien Oubile), which results in Max showing some bizarre behaviour for the whole weekend, while Marie (Marion Cotillard – Midnight In Paris, Inception) finds herself having to make some important decisions of her own.
It feels strange saying that Little White Lies is an enjoyable film because everything points to it being a stinker. Some of the characters are downright unlikeable (only made worse by the fact that they all decide to go on holidays while their friend lays seriously injured in hospital) while the length of the film is enough to scare off a lot of filmgoers. Yet, somehow director, Guillame Canet (Tell No One, Whatever You Say) manages to pull off the film remarkably well. A lot of this is thanks to his smart script that manages to even make guys pining after woman interesting, and is made up of dialogue that most screenwriters would kill to come up with.
The ensemble cast also makes Little White Lies a must see. As usual Cotillard is sensational in every scene she is in while the world really gets to see Francois Cluzet in full flight… and we can only hope that we get to see him in some international films really soon.
If you have an afternoon free to spend in a cinema watching a lengthy film than you really can’t go wrong with Little White Lies. This is a sensational character-driven film that will keep you riveted from start to finish.
Year: 2010
Director: Guillame Canet
Stars: Francois Cluzet, Valerie Bonneton, Jean Duhardin, Benoit Maginel, Pascale Arbillot, Marion Cotillard
Classification: MA
Runtime: 154 mins
Rating: 