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Little White Lies (2010)

Director: Guillaume Canet

Time Out rating

Average user rating

12 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Nothing, but nothing will stand between the French middle classes and their hols, though a bunch of friends do pause for thought when their mate’s left in a coma after a motorbike spill in Paris. Off then, to restauranteur François Cluzet’s luxurious compound at Arcachon, for sun, sea and an inkling they’re not as happy as they want to be. The ever-splendid Cluzet, uptight in writer-director Guillaume Canet’s previous hit thriller ‘Tell No One’, is here comedically stressed by his own control-freakery, just one element in an actor-friendly array of micro-crises. Marion Cotillard proves the star turn as a loose-living anthropologist wondering whether she might have redeemed the drug-addled crash victim, while macho dude Gilles Lelouche senses he’s not impervious to romance, and sensitive Benoit Magimel is confused by a man-crush on their straight host – a strand the actor takes more seriously than the film.

It’s slightly glib, very glossy and over-extended at 154 minutes. But there’s an overriding sense that Canet knows this territory, and gets the best out of an excellent cast. With its classic-rock soundtrack, comparisons to ‘The Big Chill’ are obvious, but what’s fascinatingly different from the Lawrence Kasdan favourite (or indeed John Sayles’s ‘Return of the Seacaucus Seven’) is the absence of ideological ferment contextualising the anxious shadows over the characters’ bourgeois entitlement. Instead, wise (real-life!) oyster-farmer Joël Dupuch provides jabs of conscience as Canet builds to an all-encompassing climactic emotional blow-out but, sadly, delivers over-reaching bathos.

Author: Trevor Johnston

Time Out London Issue 2121: 14 - 20 April, 2011

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User reviews of this film

tinysherpa said...

Posted on Jun 20 2011 05:05 This sort of BS makes Chekhov look like a genius !

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Marcia said...

Posted on Jun 12 2011 08:38 It explores the tightly woven relationships amongst a group of long-term Parisian friends. In particular the film focuses on how life hasn’t quite worked out as most of the characters had hoped – at the very least most of the characters appear to have regrets and obvious frustrations. That’s why I’d say it’s a film most appropriate for a 30-35+ y/o audience – even if you don’t share some of the characters’ relationship dilemmas, you’ll probably recognise the dilemmas of close friends or relations. I think this is a very well observed film, and I’m not surprised it’s been running since mid-April. Good soundtrack, very humorous in places, possibly a little long, slightly spoiled by sugary ending, but highly recommended if you tend to go for films that aren't always mainstream or blockbusters.

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jules said...

Posted on Apr 30 2011 14:29 very entertaining!!!

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Mitchell Torok said...

Posted on Apr 26 2011 16:00 Good for you, Novels. And before any one says it was, yes, about awful people but that doesn't stop it being a great film... Great art (eg Macbeth?) can be about the obnoxious but it has to be great art - not beating us over the head with US pop schmaltz when it's time to emote, not thinking the 'working class honesty speech' is profound and punctures the bourgeois self-indulgence, and not freeze-framing daft luvvies doing their tears into smiles routines before the credits.

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novels said...

Posted on Apr 26 2011 15:33 You're on my wavelength, Michell.
Very self-centred white, middle class, bored, useless people... With the judgemental, awfully irritating and patronising daddy in the end.

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Mitchell Torok said...

Posted on Apr 25 2011 22:52 Over-long self-indulgent twaddle about a group of spoilt beautiful people who all deserve a good slap. Excellent opening sequence when the most repulsive of them all gets knocked off his scooter. What a pity the rest weren't in the side-car.

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sticky said...

Posted on Apr 24 2011 01:49 One of the best films I've ever seen....and I've watched 100 plus films at the cinema annually for more than 25 years!
I was even in two minds about seeing this beforehand, so what an amazing surprise. It was one of the funniest films I've ever seen, I was really cracking up in so many places, and along the way came close to tears in the more poignant scenes.....and then came the fantastic ending, which left me bawling and smiling simultaneously (just like the characters on screen). The cast were superlative throughout and, I might be in a minority, but I just didn't want it to end. Go see this film...don't wait for the DVD.

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novels said...

Posted on Apr 21 2011 11:59 Male characters are all typically French, and everybody is typically Parisian.
I feel that there was stereotyping, up to a point, and certainly, 2 out of the 3 female leads hardly meant more than a cute face.
The oyster farmer was just thrown in so the writer could punch in his moralistic conclusion.
I could not cry in the end, for a character you hardly knew anything about, other than being a drug addict and, perhaps, a drag queen.
Nonetheless, the French know how to have fun and content themselves with their very French joie de vivre.

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Neil McNaughton said...

Posted on Apr 18 2011 10:26 Too long, too long, too long. Not bad, had its moments but little more than a longer, slightly more entertaining version of Archipelago, but being better than Archipelago would not be difficult !

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Mike said...

Posted on Apr 18 2011 05:43 An excellent film working through the sometimes complicated love lives of friends who are away on holiday near Bordeaux. It’s extremely well cast, and very realistically scripted. The acting’s of a very high quality and the soundtrack’s good too. I thought the cinematography was absolutely excellent. Time Out has stated here in the sidebar it’s 135mins, and in the review said it’s 154mins. It’s 154mins but, surprisingly didn’t feel like it. Like the Time Out reviewer, my only grumble would be the ending’s just a little schmaltzy. That said, it’s still an excellent film. It’s one of my favourite films so far this year, and I’ll definitely get it on DVD when it’s out. If you’re thinking of going to see this film, see it sooner rather than later – it’s only on at a few cinemas and who knows whether it’ll be around for long.

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streetbeatpoet said...

Posted on Apr 16 2011 19:11 1 why has the time out feedback site here got same lengthy upper review 3 times ? and who cares what that person thinks ? if you want to write that much become a film critic doh ?

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terri said...

Posted on Apr 14 2011 11:25 @Usman .seems that you are audtioning as a film reviewer here. One bit of advice. Too long...

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