Little White Lies (2010)

A near-fatal accident leaves one friend in the hospital while the rest go on their annual vacation. But their secrets and personal grief threaten to drive them apart.

Director:

Guillaume Canet

Writer:

Guillaume Canet (scenario and dialogue)

Stars:

François Cluzet, Marion Cotillard, Benoît Magimel

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
François Cluzet	...	Max Cantara
Marion Cotillard	...	Marie
Benoît Magimel	...	Vincent Ribaud
Gilles Lellouche	...	Éric
Jean Dujardin	...	Ludo
Laurent Lafitte	...	Antoine
Valérie Bonneton	...	Véronique Cantara
Pascale Arbillot	...	Isabelle Ribaud
Anne Marivin	...	Juliette
Louise Monot	...	Léa
Joël Dupuch	...	Jean-Louis
Hocine Mérabet	...	Nassim
Matthieu Chedid	...	Raphaël
Maxim Nucci	...	Franck
Néo Broca	...	Elliot

Storyline

Every year, Max, a successful restaurant owner, and Véro, his eco-friendly wife invite a merry group of friends to their beautiful beach house to celebrate Antoine's birthday and kick-start the vacation. But, this year, before they all leave Paris, their buddy Ludo is hurt in a serious accident, which sets off a dramatic chain of reactions and emotional responses. The eagerly anticipated vacation leads each of the protagonists to raise the little veils that for years they have draped over what bothers and upsets them. Pretenses become increasingly hard to keep up. Until the moment when the truth finally catches up with them all...

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Plot Keywords:

unrequited love | vacation | secret | restaurant | hospital | 

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Taglines:

The one thing friends can't escape is a few home truths.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was France's highest-grossing film in 2010, with more than 5 million tickets sold.

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Goofs

Eric sends a text message to Marie's cell phone to call him back urgently, while he is in the restaurant with the blonde actress. Marie's cell phone beeps when receiving this text message, but when Marie opens the text message, the cell phone's display shows that it is set on mute ("silencieux").

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Connections

Features Hothead (1979)

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Soundtracks

Talk To Me
Written by Maxim Nucci
Performed by Maxim Nucci
Courtesy of Sony Music

User Reviews

difficult to feel sympathy with the characters

This 'film choral' describes the relations in a group of friends in their 30-40s.

Like every summer, Max is inviting his friends to stay at his house by the sea. Unfortunately, a few days before the departure, Ludovic is heavily injured in a motorbike accident. This event is impacting the relations in the rest of the group...

This movie is pleasing thanks to the comedy scenes, such as the running references to the homosexual appeal of one the friend for another, which is very conservative and close-minded. Or the running gag about the love affair by SMS.

On the other hand, the emotional scenes were weak, and it was difficult to feel sympathy, sorrow or sadness. I think this is mostly due to the acting, which was not as good as required to express these very deep feelings. But it could also be a problem of film construction, as I really felt the emotional strings was overused, as a justification for the whole movie. Another point is that the large number of characters weaken the depiction of each's state of mind.

Finally, "Les Petits Mouchoirs" felt like a movie with some interesting ideas, but which were not selected and matured enough. The final cut is a too long movie, with a taste of unpolished scenario.

Details

Official Sites:

Europa Corp. [France] Official Facebook [United Kingdom]

Country:

France Belgium

Language:

French

Release Date:

20 October 2010 (France)

Also Known As:

Little White Lies

Filming Locations:

Avenue Marceau, Paris 8, Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$25,654, 26 August 2012

Gross USA:

$206,088

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$53,319,615

Company Credits

Production Co:

Trésor Films, EuropaCorp, Caneo Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

134 min (theatrical)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1