Innocent Lies (1995)

In September 1938 a British detective comes to a small French coastal town in order to investigate the death of a colleague. Prime suspects are the members of English aristocratic family ... See full summary »

Director:

Patrick Dewolf

Writers:

Kerry Crabbe, Patrick Dewolf

Stars:

Adrian Dunbar, Florence Hoath, Sophie Aubry

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Adrian Dunbar	...	Alan Cross
Florence Hoath	...	Angela Cross
Sophie Aubry	...	Solange Montfort
Joanna Lumley	...	Lady Helena Graves
Gabrielle Anwar	...	Celia Graves
Alexis Denisof	...	Christopher Wood
Stephen Dorff	...	Jeremy Graves
Marianne Denicourt	...	Maud Graves
Melvil Poupaud	...	Louis Bernard
Bernard Haller	...	Georges Montfort
Rosalind Bennett	...	Janet Blain
Keira Knightley	...	Young Celia
Tobias Saunders	...	Celia's Brother #1
Robin Saunders	...	Celia's Brother #2
Charles Duron	...	Beach Boy

Storyline

In September 1938 a British detective comes to a small French coastal town in order to investigate the death of a colleague. Prime suspects are the members of English aristocratic family with plenty of skeletons in the closet.

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Plot Keywords:

coastal town | detective | female stockinged legs | nylon stockings | woman takes off stockings | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original script was based on "Towards Zero", a novel by Agatha Christie. When Christie's daughter, Rosalind Hicks, reviewed the screenplay, she demanded that her mother should remain uncredited, and the character names changed. This was because of the inclusion of incest.

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Soundtracks

La Morocha
(Saborio / Villolda - Public Domain)
Recording Copyright 1929 Odeon Argentina
Performed by Ada Falcon

User Reviews

Terrible movie....but its shot very nicely at least...some very nice visuals...but terrible script!!!!

Truly lousy screenplay sinks this one. Gabrielle Anwar, Adrian Dunbar, and Stephen Dorff all try hard to make this work (Dorff even attempts an English accent!) but the plot as it unfolds doesn't quite work. There seems like there was some scenes left out that might have made some of the explanation of why the characters do the things they do (or why they feel as attached to one another as they do)

The murder of an old friend brings a detective played by Dunbar into contact with this posh well to do aristocratic family including a pair of siblings played by Dorff and Anwar...and they're both engaged to other people, and havn't seen one another in five or so years, but they both harbor a dangerous attachment to one another.

There's a backstory here that includes a third sibling (A twin for Dorff) who died under mysterious circumstances---it seems like it was an accidental death (or was it???) at the hands of an errant crossbow shot by Dorff as a child and in their grief he and his sister apparently clung to each other cementing a you know primal relationship that can't be surpassed no matter how apart they grow or something? I'm not entirely sure--but i think that's it.

Trivia Alert BTW---A very young Kiera Knightly plays the younger version of Anwar in the flashback scenes of her as a girl.

Anyways the movie makes a hash out of all of this while also trying to bring in a bunch of other suspects who could plausibly have killed the detective's old friend--but we all know its gonna come down to either Dorff or Anwar because otherwise there'd be no movie!!!!

There's a plotline involving the detective getting overly involved with Anwar, much to the horror of the woman he shares custody of a child with although i'm never sure if they're married or divorced or just around each other an awful lot. (The detective's relaionship with his daughter is also touched upon, but again its all tangential to the mystery he's trying to unravel.)

Anyways this could've been first rate--but its a mess. Its a complete hash of a muder mystery and the ending is bad....really, really, really bad. But its well filmed!!!! The movie looks really, really good---visually its a good looking movie, but its all for nothing because you will not care one way or the other about what's actually happening onscreen.

Details

Country:

UK France

Language:

English French German

Release Date:

30 June 1995 (UK)

Also Known As:

Mentiras inocentes

Filming Locations:

Morbihan, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Polygram Filmed Entertainment, Red Umbrella Productions, Septième Production

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR (as Dolby Stereo SR) Stereo (as Dolby Stereo SR)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1