Liar, Liar: Between Father and Daughter

Not to be confused with the 1997 comedy of the same name, this gritty Canadian production reminds me of the no-nonsense social dramas once turned out by British studios prior to the sixties.

For unblinking looks at the real world, it seems we now have to look to Canadian producers for drama that reflects what can happen to ordinary people.

The family depicted here, could be any family..loving Mom and Dad, three kids, one grown and married, one at school, one in kindergarden. At least one of the children is a "problem" child.

The movie tells the story of what happens when one of the children, accuses one of the parents of incest...once the accusation is made, true or false, nothing can ever be the same again...everyone's life is altered, the immediate family, their friends, relatives, schoolmates, all are affected.

The movie does not sensationalize the necessary sexual content of the movie, but neither is it coy about going into detail about a grim fact of life...that parents are capable of sexually abusing their children, and/or that children are capable of falsely accusing adults, of that offence.

This movie reminds me of an even grimmer movie on the subject "The Pony Cart" again, a Canadian production of many years ago, which I also highly recommend, if ever you get a chance to see it.

I stumbled upon this movie quite by accident while lazing around Sunday afternoon. It was done extremely well, as I didn't know who to believe until the truth was revealed toward the end. All the performers, including the three young children, were excellent in their roles. As heinous as this kind of crime is, it is not particularly rare. I still remember a quote from an article I read many years ago and desperately wish I had kept: "The body of the child gives, because the mind of the adult cannot." I was a newspaper reporter years ago, and, believe me, this kind of thing happens just as often with "nice" white middle-class people as with anyone else.

I feel so bad for Kelley in this movie. Her father and her mother and her younger sister were all horrible. Her brother was a bit hard at first but eventually came around. When they all were upset in the courtroom I get the impression it was because they were not believed and the father went to jail and Kelley was believed they all that were not affected were against Kelley for that.

I was glad Kelley's older sister came around and did something about it , even if it took her a while and made her feel believed and important no matter who she was and finally woke up and made things right when she found out Patrick was molested too.

This unusually frank Canadian TV-movie showcases one of the less touted aspects of incest, the parental practice of turning the kids against each other to make the victim(s) less credible. As the 11-year-old who finally speaks up against her father's sexual abuse, Vanessa King plays a believably angry, sometimes less than likable kid whose father has manipulated her entire character. Her imaginative nature has gained her a reputation as a liar, and parent-fostered sibling rivalry casts the girl as a bully to her younger brother and sister, so that, when she testifies against her father, her entire family turns against her and even the prosecutor doubts her story. This movie is one of the few depictions of incest to show the parallel to adult rape cases: blaming the victim, even when the victim is a child. Highly recommended.