Beautiful Lies
Review
by Anthony Morris
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Beautiful Lies
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French comedy. Words to fill the viewer with dread.
Not that UK comedy or Australian comedy or much of America’s comedy has all that much to be proud of.
But
French comedy is in the odd position of being almost close enough to
our sensibilities to make it to our cinemas (unlike, say, German
comedy), but often not quite close enough to be actually funny.
And
with those ground rules in place, there’s not better example of this
than Beautiful Lies, a farce that relies largely on the cast being
annoying or unbelievable – which would be fine, except that it’s also a
romantic comedy, which means we should at some stage want at least one
of the characters to find happiness.
Unfortunately, instead we
get Emilie (Audrey Tautou), a somewhat abriasive village hairdresser,
who sacks her study handyman (Sami Bouajila) when she discovers he’s
actually pretty smart.
Of course, he’s secretly in love with
her, but when Emilie re-directs one of his anonymous love letters to
her to her mother instead, hilarity ensues. Only it doesn’t, not really.
There
are the occasional moments worth a smile, but for the most part the
story revolves around two fairly unlikable women – mother and daughter
no less – battling over a man who really could do a whole lot better.
Perhaps
if you’re in the mood for a trip to rural France this might be worth
checking out – either as a substitute, or as aversion therapy. 2.5 out
of 5
Beautiful Lies
Australian release: 21st July, 2011
Official
Site: Beautiful Lies
Cast: Audrey Tautou, Nathalie Baye, Sami Bouajila
Director: Pierre Salvadori
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