"The Color of Lies" *** (out of ****)Claude Chabrol's "The Color of Lies" (1999) is a film which exist in a world full of lies, gossip and innuendoes. You simply cannot believe a word any of the characters are saying. One character even says "thank God lies exist". Every character is two-faced. They all put on masks for society. Every character seems capable of terrible acts. And we even see some of these characters engage in suspicious acts.
Those familiar with the work of the great master, Claude Chabrol (considered the French Hitchcock) know that is not new territory for him. His films are often about masks. He even made a film called "Masks" back in the 80s. And like all of Chabrol films these masks usually lead to murder.
The film stars Sandrine Bonnaire and is a follow-up to her previous Chabrol collaboration, "La Cermonie" (1997), which I have reviewed on here. It is one of his long list of masterpieces. In "The Color of Lies" once again she plays a character who may not be what she seems. I was intrigued by her performance. There seemed to be so much going on between the lines. She seems to be constantly thinking. We can tell from her eyes she is always trying to stay two steps ahead of the game. Will her secrets be discovered?
The movie is about the death of a 10 year old girl, Eloise (Wendy Malpeli). She was an art student of Rene Stern (Jacques Gambline). The girl's body is discovered not too far from Rene's home. It is believed the girl was raped and strangled. Because of the proximity to Rene's home he is the lead suspect in an investigation being lead by the town's new chief investigator Lesage (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, who was in the wonderful "5 x 2" (2004) and Steven Spielberg's "Munich" (2005).
Rene suffered an accident, which is never fully explained. He now depends upon the use of a cane. He and his wife, Vivianne (Bonnaire), live alone in a house next to the sea. Since his accident he has stopped painting. At one time he was known for his portraits. Now he has given up. When the townspeople hear about the girl's death, he is driven into a further seclusion.
One of their neighbors is Germain Desmot (Antoine de Caunes) a very successful journalist and novelist, who has just come out with a new book. He and Vivianne seem to have a mutual attraction for one another. The viewer can clearly guess what Desmot's intentions are but sometimes we can't quite figure out what is going on in Vivianne's head.
Chabrol seems to be pointing the finger at everyone. Who exactly can the murderer be? Each character is hiding something. Chabrol at one point or another allows our imagination to run wild and suspect everyone. People are not always what they seem. "The Color of Lies" shows us both sides of every character. We learn Desmot is a bit of a ladies man. He is divorced and by choice, never sees his daughter. We see Vivianne and Rene love each other yet she flirts with Desmot. And while Rene may seem like a nice guy, we wonder, did he really kill the girl? He says he has given up drawing portraits but the first time we see Rene he is drawing Eloise's portrait during her lesson. As Inspecteur Lesage points out, teacher are known for seducing their pupils.
And what about Inspecteur Lesage. Being new to the town is she trying to make a name for herself? At times she doesn't seem clever. We suspect she is barking up the wrong tree. Clueless how to solve the case. In a way it reminds you of the character Columbo. He always seems to annoy everyone with his thousand of questions, which never seemed to have anything to do with the case, yet at the end of every episode he solved the murder.
"The Color of Lies", which was written by Chabrol and Odie Barski, who co-wrote "Violette" (1978), Chabrol's first film with Isabelle Huppert, is not one of the master's best. But it is not disappointing either. Chabrol suffers from his own greatness. It simply isn't as good as some of his other films, though it does share similar traits of his best work.
But I disliked the ending as well. I felt Chabrol cheated. He resolves the story by bringing up facts that he never seems to have hinted at earlier in the story. There is no way the audience could have guessed what happened. Chabrol has made up his own rules and didn't explain them to us.
It also has some very good visuals. I enjoy scenes near the end of the film which take place in the fog. A clear metaphor for the character's state of mind, very blurry. It is a dinner between Vivianne, Rene and Desmot. The viewers knows things which the others may or not know. Each character is dropping hints, in a way testing the characters to see how much they know. This creates the fog in the air. No one can see clearly.
I've reviewed a good number of Chabrol's films on this blog. In fact he is tied with D.W. Griffith as being the most discussed filmmaker on here. I wouldn't start off with this Chabrol film as my first viewing experience. You'll want to watch his older titles first such as "Le Boucher" (1970) or "Les Biches" (1968), which I have included in my "Masterpiece Film Series". I would also suggest watching this after you've seen "La Cermonie". "The Color of Lies" is a good, entertaining film. It is not Chabrol at the top of his game but even when he's not, he's still more interesting than most directors.
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