As every year, successful restaurant owner Max (Francois Cluzet) invites his friends to his luxurious beach house for a summer holiday together. But this year, the terrible accident of their mutual friend Ludo (Jean Dujardin), who is confined to his hospital bed and struggling to recover, overshadows the summer atmosphere. Shaken by the tragedy, the friends begin to question their lives. Like chiropractor Vincent (Benoit Magimel), who confesses that he's in love with Max, putting years of friendship at risk. Or Marie (Marion Cotillard), Ludo's ex, who can't really let any man get close to her. But also Antoine (Laurent Lafitte), who can't get over the breakup with his ex, or Eric (Gilles Lellouche), who can't seem to come to terms with getting older, try spasmodically to maintain the perfect and wholesome facade they've all put on over the years. But with each day the friends spend together by the sea, their little true lies begin to surface more and more clearly.
Little True Lies is the latest directorial effort from actor and filmmaker Guillaume Canet, who most recently starred in the romantic drama Last Night. For Canet, who also wrote the screenplay for his third film, Little True Lies is a very personal film, and that is evident in this tragicomedy. With a sensitive hand, Canet paints a picture of people who lead a life that is perfect in itself, but who don't question whether they might not want something else. A different job, a different partner, a different attitude to love, sex and closeness. At the same time, Canet exposes a society in which a beautiful appearance seems to count more than honesty and genuine friendship. Instead of giving each other support after Ludo's accident and talking about their injured friend and his difficult fate, the group prefers to let superficiality rule with the help of fun leisure activities. That this leads more and more often to quite unmasking quarrels is of course preprogrammed.
The fact that humor and drama very pleasantly balance each other, makes the film despite some lengths so worth seeing. The story, which is embedded in a dreamlike scenery, offers several amusing moments, for example when Max goes on a very rough hunt for a nocturnal troublemaker. On the other hand, watching a video of an earlier holiday together, which Ludo was still able to take part in, is one of the most emotional moments of the film. The dramaturgy never seems forced, but always authentic and comprehensible. The viewer understands the characters' behavior, because it is simply human. Of course it's not right that they don't want to face their problems and fears and instead prefer to take the supposedly easier way of repressing them. But as is the case in real life, the real problems can't be pushed away by sun, beach and sex either.
With a great ensemble of actors, from which, in addition to Oscar winner Marion Cotillard (Inception, La Vie en Rose) especially Francois Cluzet (So is Paris), Gilles Lellouche (C`est la vie - So are we, so is life) and, despite his rather small role, Jean Dujardin (OSS 117) stand out, Canet's homage to the classic The Great Frustration has become a highly entertaining and deeply human drama in which laughter and tears are very close to each other. Admittedly, the film didn't really need the nearly two and a half hours to tell its story. At some points, a cut or two would have certainly done the pacing some good. But the bottom line is that the positive overall impression prevails, which then makes Little True Lies a must-see for all lovers of French entertainment cinema. Worth seeing
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