NOW ON VOD! Director/co-writer Olivier Peyon’s Lie With Me is a bittersweet reminiscence of young love and regret based on an autobiographical novel by Philippe Besson. The town of Cognac in France is bustling with the bicentennial celebration of a local distillery. Stéphane Belcourt (Guillaume de Tonquédec), a celebrated author who grew up here, returns home for the first time in 35 years to speak at a paid promotional event. He is met by Lucas Andrieu (Victor Belmondo), who is assigned to be his handler, and tells him he’s a fan who admires Stéphane’s writing, but there’s more than meets the eye to Lucas. Stéphane eventually gets to the truth that Lucas is the son of Thomas Andrieu (Julien De Saint Jean), who was Stéphane’s first love when they were boys at school here. Being back home after so long has already begun to stir up the memories of lost love for Stéphane, but hearing Lucas talk about his father sends him into a deep sadness, particularly when he learns that Thomas has killed himself.
Stéphane finds himself flooded with powerful memories of his time as a young man when he and Thomas met in secret, too ashamed to be out. Lucas pushes him to know more about Thomas, but Stéphane is reluctant to open up, unsure how much Lucas knows about his father’s secret life. The event is pure turmoil for Stéphane as he is caught in a whirlwind of memory, pressure from Lucas, and the expectation that he will fulfill his obligation to his employer.
“…flooded with powerful memories of his time as a young man when he and Thomas met in secret, too ashamed to be out.”
Peyon captures the different times in Stéphane’s life as it shifts from his young summer adventure with Thomas back and forth to the present. Young Stéphane (Jérémy Gillet) is full of fire and daring. Thomas is less bold, fearful that someone will find out about their secret romance. He presents as a rough boy, blue-collar, and stereotypically masculine. At a glance, Stéphane seems the weaker and softer of the two, but in fact, he lives with less fear and shame than Thomas. As Stéphane comes to terms with his past and learns what became of Thomas, he finds clarity and strength of will in his identity. He seems to finally be empowered to reconcile a chapter of his life that he’d thought was long ago relegated to the past.
Cinematically, Peyon paints the past and present in stark contrast. The present is sharp and flat in tone both visually and in the dialogue. The characters are stilted and bruised from traumatic life experiences. Stéphane acknowledges his famed renown as a novelist but seems annoyed at everything and everyone around him. He seems to feel almost instant regret at having accepted the invitation to Cognac. The humorous conceit for Stéphane is that he doesn’t drink, despite being a product ambassador for a liquor company. He’s wound up tight and deeply introverted. Conversely, scenes of memories from the past are in soft focus and pastels and shot so effectively that you can almost feel the summer sun and smell the grass.
The title is a clever double-entendre: Lie With Me means both to lie down in a sexual context, as well as being a nod to the lies inherent in a closeted life. The original title in French is Arrête avec tes mensonges or Stop With Your Lies.
The key performances that give life to the engine of the film are from de Tonquédec and Belmondo as Stéphane and Lucas. Belmondo is the son of the acclaimed 1960s French New Wave star Jean-Paul Belmondo, known for films such as Breathless and That Man from Rio. Victor is off to a strong start following in his father’s famous footsteps. In Lie With Me, his character, Lucas, has engineered the meeting with Stéphane and thus brings to close one chapter of life and opens the pages on a new one, and this denouement is the beauty and heartwarming delight of the film.
"…a bittersweet reminiscence of young love and regret..."
