Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

The Truth (2006)

Director: George Milton

Average user rating
1 review

Movie review

From Time Out London

‘Irony has no place in this room,’ advises Donna Shuck (Elizabeth McGovern), as she welcomes a new group of variously needy individuals who’ve signed up for her seven-step programme, ‘Adventures in Truth’. No place at Serenity Lodge in the remote Highlands, perhaps, but irony is plentiful in Milton’s low-budget but highly satisfying, slyly intelligent UK indie.

An inevitably motley crew gathers to confront the truth about themselves (and, of course, each other): feisty wheelchair-user Candy (Elaine Cassidy), bankrupt dotcom queen Martha, sensitive Spud, predatory lech Felix, nurse-turned-dominatrix Blossom, muso Scott, and Croatian Mia, whom Donna allows into therapy sessions in return for cooking and house-cleaning… Cue (just as inevitably given the way such movie gatherings go) an accelerating spiral of spiteful lies and recriminations, as the shared oath to tell the truth and nothing but takes its toll…

Nothing else is inevitable, however, in this engagingly fresh take on a subgenre of potentially slim pickings. With consistently interesting plot twists and shifts in power between the uncertainly allied characters, the film’s a real rollercoaster, alternating deliciously deadpan humour with serious insights, deft satire with dark suspense, and even managing to succeed, here and there, in several different tonal registers at once. Though it may seem clear where Milton’s sympathy lies, he keeps pulling the rug from under our feet, so we’re never quite sure whether we’re watching a mystery thriller, a sophisticated parody or a wry comment on our capacity to turn ethics into whatever’s expedient. Only at the end are we left with any certainty: the truth is dead. Long live the truth!

Author: GA 2006-01-09 12:40:43

Time Out London Issue 1847: January 11-18 2006

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

User reviews of this film

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


The Truth

Cast & crew

Director: George Milton

Producer: Julie-anne Edwards

Cast: William Beck, Elaine Cassidy, Stephen Lord, Elizabeth McGovern, Lea Mornar, Rachael Stirling, Zoe Telford, Karl Theobald full cast

Genre(s): Comedy

Duration: 119 mins


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.