★★★★ - THE POST
- Lies We Tell is a historic thriller set to a slow burn -
We are in rural Ireland in the 1860s or thereabouts, in a sprawling manor house and estate that goes by the name of Knowl.
Nineteen-year-old Maud has inherited Knowl after the death of her beloved dad.
Because Maud is so young - and she didn't have the foresight to be born a man - she must live as the ward of her father's brother Silas, whom she has never met.
Uncle Silas arrives with his catastrophically dim son Edward, twittering daughter Emily and an alleged French maid all in tow. And, as we knew they would, the whole foul family immediately set about driving Maud to marry the witless Edward, or be diagnosed as insane by the corrupted family quack. Either of which will cause Knowl to pass into Silas' clammy little hands.
Maud is soon a prisoner in her own house, as Silas and his dullard spawn work together to make sure she can't reach the stables to ride away, or even send a letter to the outside world.
But, Maud is clever and strategic in a way that Silas could never grasp.
Lies We Tell is a tale of a battle of wills, fought mainly between Maud and Silas, with the drooling Edward called off the bench when anything truly despicable is about to happen.
The film doesn't ever explode into a full-blown thriller, and is all the better for it. And although it borrows from the conventions and staging of a horror movie, it is never quite one of those either.
Director Lisa Mulcahy (Wasteland) and writer Elisabeth Gooch have reworked Sheridan Le Fanu's novel Uncle Silas as a dark fable of an imprisoned woman - fingers crossed - defeating her captors, with not much more than her guile and bravery to aid her.
Lies We Tell even began to remind me a little of an inverted Parasite or Saltburn, played out from the point of view of a woman living through a home-invasion, who must find a way to get the invaders the hell out, but without goading Silas and co into employing more violence than she could withstand.
As Maud - and appearing in every scene - Agnes O'Casey (The Miracle Club) turns in a fantastic piece of work. We can see immediately, with our 21st century eyes, that Maud is a ferociously smart woman who is always aware what Silas is planning. Her challenge isn't to unravel his plot, it is to find a way to stop it from happening anyway, when she is cut off and without allies in the house.
Up against her, out-smarted but still holding all the cards, David Wilmot as Silas walks a line between boo-hiss villainy and something more nuanced and human. His Silas is a pathetic, venomous little man, but Wilmot keeps him credible.
Wilmot - The Guard, Calm With Horses, The Wonder - has been turning up in support roles and stealing films out from under their stars for years now. Seeing him in a lead role is a treat, and Wilmot doesn't let a second of Silas' screen time go to waste.
Cinematographer Eleanor Bowman (Testimony) pushes her gear to the limits in the candle-lit interiors, and finds ways of moving her cameras that perfectly complement the action and events as they unfold.
Lies We Tell is a smart and acerbic piece of writing, beautifully put together and performed. In a quiet week for new releases, this is the grown-ups' pick of the bunch.
- Graeme Tuckett, THE POST
Lies We Tell is now playing at Light House Cinema!