Brilliant
Lies is a very truthful and cynical tale of a web of complex
emotions underneath what seems like a simple case of sexual
harassment. It won't please most people, but that's where
the entertainment value lies. It doesn't try to please anyone.
Suzy
accuses her superior of the firm she works for as a secretary
of sexual harassment. This stems from a period of several
months of vicious phone calls by him to her desk, and ends
in a pig-headed sexual advance. Gary, however, insists he
was making no such advance, but was trying to help an employee
who wasn't really making herself useful.
Yet
things are not all cut and dry. Both these characters are
very unsympathetic - and lying. Suzy is clearly lying about
her original story, as we see only a few minutes into the
movie, when she tells her lesbian sister much of what she
said was clearly false. Suzy is clearly, at least from this
point, doing this for the money. She tries to convince her
sister they both need lots of money to get away from the drudgery
of urban life, so Suzy wants 40000 dollars. She even wants
her to lie, and say that on the fateful night Suzy went home
crying to a comforting Katy (in flashbacks which are clearly
phony.) Suzy is also quite willing to manipulate and lie to
her sister in hopes of distracting her from Suzy's lies. In
one scene, she successfully convinces Katy that the female
mediator was a lesbian and was coming on to her during the
meeting.
Gary
is also a dangerous character. He is liable to explode in
a fierce rage when things don't go his way. His own boss doesn't
trust him, and has his own eyewitness account to suggest Gary
is not a saint. The boss reveals Gary's own flaws to him,
that he discards women all the time, that he demeans them.
And as well, Gary has a trick up his sleeve which throws much
doubt towards him. If he is telling the truth, why is he so
suspicious of his boss that he would be willing to commit
a hostile takeover of the company. Clearly, Gary figures his
financial skin will be saved if he can buy out the company
and make the shareholders foot at least part of the bill.
The
testimony in the courtroom reveals a shocking event which
is more vicious than anything said by the two participants
beforehand. It is understandable why such an event would be
hidden from view, since it revolves around something more
intimate and complex than an isolated and rude sexual gesture.
Yet, I was bombarded with so many lies and shadings of the
truth, even this climax threw me in doubt. I personally was
so caught up in the web of deceit created by these two so-called
rational people that I did not feel willing to believe anything
being said by virtually anyone. Even now, I cannot say whether
Suzy's final story is correct.
The
only real problem with the movie is that, even at 88 minutes
long, it contains a sub-plot which was probably unnecessary.
It involves the sister's father, an alternately amusing and
painfully melodramatic old coot, who apparently carries a
dark family secret not revealed until near the end. This helps
explain the animosity between him and the sisters, but it
probably doesn't do much for the movie. When he first appeared
on screen, I assumed he was either being played for laughs
or a fairly bad actor. His words and acting style don't suggest
the horrible skeleton in the closet which falls out in front
of us. It offers a tiny psychological motive for the event's
in Suzy's original story, but, the way the whole sub-plot
is treated may strike some viewers as lacking in thought or
even sensitivity.
This
film is like a bucket of water thrown at those who like to
believe the radical feminist treatment that all women are
victims and men are the evil wrong-doers, or just the simple
belief that these situations are easy to solve. It reveals
something which should be common-sense: people will do anything
to get what they want, even at the expense of hurting others.
Suzy and Gary want to live in a fantasy world, free of all
problems and the actions of others, and when that fantasy
is punctured, the claws come out. In a way, these two people
deserve each other, because they both are such reckless, selfish
swine who like nothing better than seeing another person get
hurt. At first, anger built within me over Suzy's greedy actions.
Even if someone said something you really didn't like, there
is no reason why you should totally destroy the man's livelihood;
none whatsoever. By that logic, almost all of us would have
to sue for having heard something offensive. But at the same
time, if Suzy's final story is true, and based on the evidence,
Gary himself deserves some sort of punishment. He has a brutal
rage towards women in general, and much of his namecalling
reveals that.
But,
for me, it all comes down to a bit of common sense. When people
sue restranants for millions of dollars, and win, because
a bit of (albiet hot) coffee spills on them, it is proof that
we don`t live in a rational society. People treat honest accidents
as a personal attack on them, and therefore must be avenged.
People are looking out for number one. Just the same, anyone
who treats people like garbage, instead of as they would like
to be treated, also reeks of selfishness. If people were to
get out of their self interested shells for a while, the world
would be a much better place.
David
Macdonald
David
Macdonald's Movie Reviews
|