Sweet lies of Beautiful Lies leave a lot to be desired.
Is Audrey Tautou (Amelie) still credible enough to top bill a farcical French romantic comedy? Pierre Salvadori (Apres Vous) thinks so. Reuniting them four years after their fairly enjoyable Priceless, Beautiful Lies is a long joke that starts promisingly, only to run out of steam by its third act. The film ticks all the boxes requisite of French rom-com: from its quirky supporting cast to the romantic locale of Sete in the south of France, Beautiful Lies has sparks of genuine comic hilarity, yet the feeling of been-there done-that is nevertheless hard to shake off.
Beautiful Lies is a very stripped down version of Jane Austen’s Emma. Cynical and business focused Emilie (Tautou) receives a clandestine love letter from Jean (Sami Bouajila, Days of Glory), a handyman working for the local beauty salon that she co-owns. Meanwhile, Maddy (Nathalie Baye, Tell No One), Emelie’s mother, finds herself still in self-imposed isolation, now in its fourth year, after being left by her husband for a younger model. Sick and tired of her mother’s neediness, Emilie sends her the mysterious letter anonymously to cheer her up, inadvertently creating a fantasy-driven Romeo, forcing her to play cupid for Maddy and the reluctant Jean. It goes without saying, chaos and hilarity follow.
The set up of Beautiful Lies is fairly well executed. The film follows the French farce template fairly religiously, instantly creating amusing visual gags and situational comedy. Characters are also drawn from stereotypes, so that even if Emilie attempts to subvert Tautou’s Amelie, the character still fits the mold of a rom-com heroine. Nevertheless, as with other films in the genre, momentum falls away once it tries to be serious – proof that the comedy beforehand wasn’t strong enough to nourish characters worth caring about.
The two main leads, Tautou and Bouajila, do not have much chemistry to speak of. On the one hand, Emelie’s naivety and well meaning intentions can be a bit infuriating, and on the other, Jean’s sincerity and down to earth nature can be a bit pathetic. In effect, the film’s resolution becomes an exercise of closure rather than an organic union between the protagonists. In contrast to Priceless, Beautiful Lies lacks enough set pieces to allow the couple to build upon their meet-cute.
I can imagine the intention of Beautiful Lies was to be somewhat similar to the Coen Brother’s Burn After Reading: a film that extends one inspired idea into a full length feature. It fails to mimic its success in execution, as Beautiful Lies depends too much on Tautou’s whimsical charisma, ironically casted in a character that demands her to tone it down. Freshness escapes Beautiful Lies; further proof that Tautou should graduate from this genre altogether, to pursue more challenging roles that can fully expose her skills.
Reynald Castaneda