Au Cœur du Mensonge
The Color of Lies movie storyline. This thriller from veteran director Claude Chabrol is a tense suspense drama, leavened with sly humor, about the fallout from a shocking crime in a small town. Frederique Lesage (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi), the new chief of police in a cozy and fashionable seaside community in Brittany, soon finds her job more eventful than she expected when a ten-year-old girl is found raped and murdered.
The last person to see her alive was René Sterne (Jacques Gamblin), a cynical and once-famous artist who has fallen on hard times and gives drawing lessons to children to make ends meet. René, who is passionately devoted to his wife (Sandrine Bonnaire), a nurse whose perpetual good cheer is the polar opposite of his personality, quickly becomes the prime suspect in the absence of any real clues.
Meanwhile, Frederique becomes better acquainted with the eccentric residents of the town, including a self-important TV journalist (Antoine de Caunes), a small-time crook who fences stolen goods (Pierre Marlot), and a curious pair of married shopkeepers (Bulle Ogier and Noel Simsolo). Chabrol’s son Matthieu Chabrol composed the score for this film.
The Color of Lies is a 1999 film co-written and directed by Claude Chabrol. Starring are Sandrine Bonnaire, Jacques Gamblin, Antoine de Caunes, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Bernard Verley, Bulle Ogier, Pierre Martot, Adrienne Pauly and Véronique Volta. Its title in French is Au Cœur du Mensonge (literally At the Heart of the Lie). The film was entered into the 49th Berlin International Film Festival.
Film Review for The Color of Lies
Director Claude Chabrol, one of the most successful members of the French New Wave, is still (after a hugely busy career) able to breathe life into suspense with subtlety, irony, and humour. Considering he returns time and again to the French bourgeoisie, the freshness of his films is all the more striking. Yet it is the middle classes, the gulf between what they say and what they actually think, and the importance of things left unsaid which stoke the drama of so many of his films.
And so it is with “The Colour of Lies”, a gentle but powerful psychological thriller, which targets a failing French painter and his increasingly introspective wife, both of whom live in a Brittany fishing village. One of his art students – a young girl – is found raped and murdered, and he – immersed in nervousness and gloom – is placed under the microscope by the police and the gossipy, judgmental community, with even his own expressions suggesting he might well be guilty.
His wife’s demeanour, meanwhile, hints at a woman who, though clearly very loving, would quite like to withdraw from her marriage and enjoy an affair with the media celebrity next door, a glib, charming egotist played by Antoine de Caunes. It is this ambiguity in both husband and wife which keeps the other – and us – guessing.
In a film whose theme lies in all their assorted forms and shades, the three actors prove highly skilled in nuance, with Antoine de Caunes banishing all memories of his clownish alter ego in “Eurotrash”. Chabrol, forever asking us to spot detail, ensures that every one counts. A work of superior acting and quiet strength.
The Color of Lies – Au Cœur du Mensonge (1999)
Directed by: Claude Chabrol
Starring: Sandrine Bonnaire, Jacques Gamblin, Antoine de Caunes, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Bernard Verley, Bulle Ogier, Pierre Martot, Adrienne Pauly, Véronique Volta
Screenplay by: Claude Chabrol, Odile Barski
Production Design by: Françoise Benoît-Fresco
Cinematography by: Eduardo Serra
Film Editing by: Monique Fardoulis
Costume Design by: Corinne Jorry
Music by: Matthieu Chabrol
Distributed by: MK2 Diffusion
Release Date: January 13, 1999
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