The Lie
“The Lie” is part of a series of films Blumhouse is putting out on Amazon, called, “Welcome to the Blumhouse.” I had the chance to watch the virtual premiere of it, and it was fun to see how they made it a bit of an event. Not sure the film as a whole was worth all of the fanfare, but it is still an intriguing morality play.
Veena Sud’s film follows the progression of a situation built one multiple lies. The first one involves Kayla (Joey King) and her father, Jay (Peter Sarsgaard), covering up a supposed murder. Brittany (Devery Jacobs) and Kayla are being driven up to a ballet camp by Jay. They pull off so Brittany can go to the bathroom in the woods, and her and Kayla get into an argument, and Kayla pushes Brittany off the bridge they are at. We don’t see the argument- only the aftermath- but Jay goes with her daughter’s story, and they decide not to say anything. Kayla’s mother, Rebecca (Mireille Enos), finds out when they get home, and throughout the rest of the film’s 97 minutes, the three have to try and fend off inquiries from Brittany’s father (Cas Anvar) and authorities.
What transpires is, essentially, a domestic horror story, where two parents are faced with a worst-case scenario involving their child, and are trying to protect her at all costs, even if it means lying about a potential crime. The family dynamics, heightened by the fact that Jay and Rebecca are separated, adds to the tension, and all three actors do a fairly good job of capturing the anxiety of the predicament, especially when Brittany’s father comes into the picture, and the situation seems to spiral out of control, and a further twist only compounds the anxieties that we’ve seen the characters deal with throughout the film. The most intense moments come from when the father is trying to get answers, and he becomes the most sympathetic character in the movie, not just because of his dilemma, but how he is being hurt by the lies being told by Kayla and her parents. How it all plays out is a greater tragedy than how the film begins, as a broken family unit further fractures, to the point where it will never be the same again. All because of a lie.
