Lie with Me (2006)

Don't Believe the Hype

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Nymphomaniac Leila (Lauren Lee Smith) goes to a party. She catches the attention of David (Eric Balfour) and Victoria (Polly Shannon). They watch her having sex with a stranger in the alley and start having sex themselves. Leila's mother leaves her father. Her friend Rachel (Kristin Lehman) is giving up great sex to marry someone she loves. David starts stalking her and their perverse sexual affair grows. David is taking care of his father and Victoria is jealous.Firstly, this is not a late-night erotic B-movie. It's trying to be an artistic erotica with varying success. It has a hazy dreamy feel with soft colors and persistent narration from Leila. Leila is a compelling character for about 30 minutes before it grows tired. It becomes nothing more than two hot people having sex a lot. It's a lot of explicit nudity but the story moves way too slowly. Leila's deterioration could be much darker as well as the movie. This needs to be more than hot sex.

Lie with Me is the story of a Leila (Lauren Smith), a woman on a quest for pleasure, who has found sex to be the main road to get there. The film begins with her masturbating to porno, and much of the rest of the 90 minutes are very well-made and realistic scenes of masturbation and sex, which apart from showing two young hot bodies, is also an excellent portrayal of desire and longing. It's easy to identify with Leila, haven't we all been captivated by someone at some point?... She is obsessed with David (Eric Balfour), a man with whom she feels a special chemistry. Could it be love? Well, it's certainly lots of hot sex and fantasies of having David watch her have sex with other men...Lie-la and David's total lack of ability to communicate outside the bed or even about their fantasies leads these two alienated youths to come to the impossible conclusion of mutual unrequited love for an damaged soul who doesn't or can't love them back. This psychological struggle is truly interesting, and the cruelty and stupidity that result of this feeling of injustice define the rest of the film. The film-maker does a terrible job of resolving this tension, or hinting at how this misunderstanding might be overcome. Maybe one can read Tamara Berger's book to figure it out.In conclusion, Lie with Me is a great film to watch in bed with a lover. It has excellent acting and sexy bodies. Interesting psychologically, this film surpasses soft-core porn, it is a study of the modern dilemma of alienation around promiscuity and love in cities and club scenes. But little depth or dialogue accompanies the ending, and many will regret watching it to the end. Hopefully before then, you've gotten more interested in that warm body lying with you, or at the very least with yourself.

Whilst I understand the thrill this film may have on some people, Its really an observational & revealing documentary. Western ideals have been laid bear without compunction. It shows how self gratification not only harms individuals but harms society in an aggressive manner. It all ties in with narrow minded consumerism consuming people, that's fine if it was not for the fact about how much damage is done to fundamental reality. Crime, family break ups. relationships floundering within a short frame,values are weakened to the point of a complete breakdown of morals. You may ask why do we need morals? Its more fun to do as we please. Take a look around you, see the world in America. Europe, Fragmentation stares us all in the face & we feel helpless to stem the tide of discontent.Some quarters of the world see this moral downfall & want to stop it or protect their families,even countries see it as a decadent wasteland.

Well,like i said great movie,i applaud the director and actors for the simple fact that such movies are being made and that actors understand that there is a lot more to love than two people meeting, sleeping with each other and falling in love, live happily, breaking up, getting chased to an airport and then finally living happily ever after.... the truth is that the average middle class mans life is not that exciting, its boring, mundane and repetitive... we go to work and pay our loans off and then sleep.Really not much happens in our lives, except LOVE... The movie tries to capture the insecurities and the complexes that all of us carry, our baggage, be it excess porn or excess fat, we are really never truly happy with ourselves, life is a constant struggle in which we meet people, look for something, some lasting joy, but eventually we sleep around and then make up excuses and part ways or delay till we get someone new. This one takes a different view, cause no matter how perverted or lost the characters have been shown, their inherent honesty is always present and palpable... whoever they are,They are. The beginning will blow you away, i still feel it could have been extended and could have given a more surrealist pace to the movie, but i guess the director wanted to disturb the beauty of the shot and thus sends the message that its a movie about a flawed beauty. Worth it, watch it, its short, may be not all is clear and understood, but in a normal working mans life, little is.