THE TRUTH

While it's obvious from the outset that this is Fabienne's story (Deneuve gives the best performance by default here, simply because she has the most to work with), it's fascinating that 'The Truth' never feels entirely sympathetic to her yet spends most of its run time revolving around her life. It could be argued that the Fabienne's upcoming sci-fi film (which looks god-awful, mind you) is an exploration of her career; Fabienne plays the elderly daughter of a woman who never grows old, fleeing the set when made to wear a grey wig for a scene. It's obvious that Fabienne's disruptive behaviour on set is a silent protest against an industry she silently fears is ready to toss her out in her old age, but it's just so on-the-nose that I didn't even bat an eyelid when she was constantly cutting takes, wanting her scenes to be perfect. This is a woman so used to playing make-believe that she's adopted that mindset for her own real life. We've seen this before.

It's also fascinating just how boring the entire film is. 'The Truth' feels ready to drop some explosive secrets from Fabienne and Lumir's tumultuous relationship, but it never amounts to anything beyond Fabienne's own anxieties as an actress and how she screwed over her now-deceased rival. It's the equivalent of being promised a three-course meal and receiving a flavourless protein bar instead. Nothing exciting is occurring from a visual standpoint, and the sparse score gives the affair a much lighter spin than is appropriate. The editing also feels half-baked, with scenes either running one line of dialogue too long or being cut off as they could go somewhere interesting. Tonally, 'The Truth' wants to have its cake and eat it too - to be a lighthearted dramedy that explores the intricate relationships a woman can have to her blood and to her work, but it doesn't have the gravitas to strike an effective balance. It's not like it has not been done before; in fact, Olivier Assayas' 'Clouds of Sils Maria', also starring Binoche, traverses incredibly similar thematic ground with much more ease. Blame it on a weak script or blame it on moving from Japanese to French, but there's a good chance some moments lose their effectiveness when they're lost in translation.

As previously mentioned, Deneuve gives the best performance, which leaves Binoche and Hawke to be criminally underutilised. Both deserve scripts with more meat on the bone (Binoche has far more screen time than Hawke, but her character is so flimsy with her emotions and motivations that it just feels sad to waste a wonderful actress on the role).

'The Truth' has a number of interesting ideas that lend themselves favourably to this film's rewatchability, but it's such a bland affair that I cannot understand why one would want to watch it again. I felt as if I was forgetting it as I watched it.