Little White Lies

The Cast.

Ludo (Jean Dujardin) leaves a Parisian nightclub on his moped just as daybreaks; he has a sudden horrendous collision with a speeding truck that jumps the traffic lights. While he fights for his life in hospital his group of friends decide to go on their usual summer holidays to Cap Ferret, west of Bordeaux, leaving him totally on his own with his horrific injuries. The group consists of the rich business man and hotelier Max (Francois Cluzet) and his wife Veronique (Valerie Bonneton) who own the large holiday home which plays host each year to this group of so called friends including Marie (Marion Cotillard), Eric (Gilles Lellouche) and Antoine (Laurent Lafitte), husband and wife Vincent (Benoit Magimel) and Isobel (Pascale Arbillot) and there young son.

French poster.

This comedy-drama Little White Lies (2010) was written and directed by Guillaume Canet, best known for the 2006 award winning French thriller Tell No One and reveals secrets and hang-ups between a group of friends from the directors own generation who not only lie to each other but to themselves which is an attempt to cover the truth about their rather pitiful mundane lives. Their regular holidays together are a microcosm of their normal existence and Canet succeeds in making this group of obnoxious people into quite engaging characters. The musical soundtrack is an integral part of the movie helping to create strong visual images and helping to stir the imagination. A slightly overlong reunion movie similar in vain to Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train (1998) A Christmas Tale (2008) and The Barbarian Invasions (2003) not quite up to their high standard, but still worth a look all the same.