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Lie With Me
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| Year: |
2005
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Director: |
Clément Virgo
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| Stars: |
Lauren Lee Smith, Eric Balfour, Polly Shannon, Mayko Nguyen, Michael Facciolo, Kate Lynch, Ron White, Kristin Lehman, Don Francks, Richard Chevolleau, Frank Chiesurin, Nicola Lipman, Theresa Tova
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| Genre: |
Drama, Sex, Romance |
| Rating: |
  5 (from 1 vote) |
| Review: |
Leila (Lauren Lee Smith) lies on her sofa one evening, masturbating to her porn collection. Unsatisfied, she gets up and puts on the rest of her clothes and heads out to a club where she wanders around until a young man, David (Eric Balfour), catches her eye. They admire each other over the crowded dancefloor and when Leila goes to the bathroom to drink the tap water, David follows her, not saying much but letting her drink from his hands. Despite this, Leila does not leave with him as he is there with his girlfriend, but later he is in his car in the parking lot when he spies her performing oral sex on another young man she has picked up at the club. David's girlfriend spots this too, and does the same with him, until both couples are having sex with David and Leila sharing eye contact throughout. There's a relationship being formed here...
Ahem, more tea, vicar? Ever since pornography turned sort of mainstream back in the nineteen-seventies, for a while anyway, some films have been surrounded by rumours that the actor and actress playing out the love scene are actually "doing it". From Don't Look Now to Nine and 1/2 Weeks and beyond, the sex onscreen can be so convincing that surely it can't all be staged? Well, that's the magic of the movies, as Lie With Me suffered (or enjoyed) similar rumours although despite there being a number of such sequences, no penetration is ever seen so we have to assume that nobody went all the way in front of the camera. Take all that away, you're left with a story about a shallow woman who doesn't believe in love and lives for sex who has her opinions turned around when she realises there's more to life than this.
The screenplay was based on a novel by Tamara Berger and adapted by her and director Clément Virgo, and doesn't waste much time in getting Leila and David together. They meet almost by chance at a childrens' play park, deserted but for a courting couple, and after a wordless but frank exchange of intentions, eventually they end up in bed together, and not for the only instance. As if to prove to Leila that love is a waste of time, her parents are currently in the process of splitting up after decades of marriage, so this is all the excuse she needs to indulge in a no strings arrangement with David, even if his girlfriend shows up at her place of work to warn her away, advice, needless to say, she doesn't adopt. As for David, he lives with his elderly father who dies halfway through the film, meaning he needs the support of a loving relationship to help with his grieving, something that Leila can't help with. The plot is as flimsy as one of Leila's dresses, and leads up to a so what? conclusion, but it's at least true to its themes and sentimentalists will appreciate the denouement. Music by Byron Wong.
[Metrodome's Region 2 DVD has a director's commentary, a featurette and the trailer as extras.]
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| Reviewer: |
Graeme Clark
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