L'ombre d'un mensonge

There was much potential with the storyline. It flopped a little. No proper build up or no proper dilemma/ problem or anything to make the film a little less monotonal.

Excellent acting, slow burn storytelling, cinematography could have been better.

One for grown ups and not for those with ADHD or young of mind.

Nice to see the Isle of Lewis featured in the film but I think there are better sets that could have been filmed at.

Saw this tonight , featured as a sneakprewiev at Gothenburg Filmfestival. It blew me away from the beginning with its low-key tone and exceptional acting. The beautiful and dramatic landscape of Scotland makes a perfect setting for this unique and highly moving love story. Bouli Lanners, director, writer and actor is such a great talent and his counterpart Michelle Fairley is also amazing. Blessed to find this gem.

Near the start of this film, we hear a weather forecast on the car radio advising sunny spells are imminent. Well they didn't come, nor are there really any other sunny moments in this story. Set on the rather dark, bleak and wintry Isle of Lewis, we meet "Phil" (auteur Bouli Landers) who works as a general factotum with "Brian" (Andrew Still) who is the grandson of the smallholding owner "Angus" (Julian Glover). The two workers bond well enough during their largely outdoor, and muddy, endeavours and also over a pint afterwards where the former man discovers that the young man's aunt "Millie" (Michelle Fairley) is looked upon rather disdainfully by others in their small community. It's only when "Phil" suffers a stroke on the beach, that this lady comes forward to help his recuperation, and in the process tells quite a big "white" lie that sets the scene for the rest of this drama. It's a very slow burn with, frankly, a very thin plot but the acting is quite genuine and the island environment and tightly knit family scenario does add a bit of richness to the increasingly predicable outcome. I've seen Fairley on stage a few times and she is a good actress at delivering the less is more style, but here there are just too many lingering shots, driving to and fro, having a cigarette meaningfully - without really developing the characters enough, nor really explaining while the originally Belgian visitor is there in the first place. It's nicely shot, but just rather unremarkable.

This film has won three awards to date--all deserving and correctly encapsulating the strengths of the film. Two awards were Silver Hugos for the Best Actor (Bouli Lanners) and the Best Actress (Michelle Fairley) at the Chicago film festival. (The two actors are two of three co-directors as well.) The third award was for the film's cinematography for Frank van den Eeden at the Oostende Film Festival. I am not sure, however, if a person who suffers a stroke losing his memory can recall his past so well with time as depicted in the film. May be they can. I am not a doctor.