Rien que des mensonges: A whole lot of nothing

Is it worth the time?

Honestly? Probably not. Unless you’re the kind of person who gets a kick out of really old, stiff dialogue, you’ll find this one a slog. It’s for the folks who like their drama served with a side of heavy theater vibes and zero breathing room. If you prefer your movies to have, you know, actual movement or a pulse, you’ll hate it.

The whole thing feels like someone decided to film a play without realizing the camera doesn't need to stay in one spot for an eternity. The characters talk, they pose, they deliver lines like they’re shouting to the back row of a balcony. It’s exhausting.

Alice Beylat tries her best, I guess. But the script keeps pulling her back into these weird, stiff reactions that don't feel human at all. It’s like watching a wax museum try to have a nervous breakdown.

The lighting is consistently flat, too. There’s this one sequence in a drawing room where the shadows just sort of sit there, doing nothing to help the mood. It’s not quite as visually dreary as Ombres des bas fonds, but it’s close. At least that one had some grit.

A few random thoughts:

• There is an awful lot of door-opening and closing. It’s basically a sport in this movie.
• The pacing is glacial. It moves slower than La terre qui meurt on a Sunday afternoon.
• Jeanne Fusier-Gir shows up and acts circles around everyone else. It’s almost jarring how much better she is than the rest of the cast.
• I spent about ten minutes wondering if the wallpaper was actually intentional or just a mistake. It’s really distracting.

There’s this moment where two characters are meant to be having this big, dramatic confrontation. Instead of feeling the tension, I just found myself staring at the pattern on the curtains. It’s like the movie forgot it needed to give us a reason to care about these people’s lies. 🙄

It lacks the charm of something like La belle Nivernaise. That film felt like it had a heart. This one just feels like a list of instructions on how to act dramatic. If you like stuffy, old-school drama, sure, knock yourself out. But for everyone else, maybe go watch something that actually feels like it was made by people who like movies.

It’s not offensive, just incredibly forgettable. The kind of film that disappears from your brain the second the credits roll. I think I’ve already forgotten how it ends, and I just watched it an hour ago.