An Irish heiress suffers captivity by her heartless uncle and his deranged offspring in this fascinating film adaptation of author J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s celebrated gothic novel. Lies We Tell takes its sweet time to create uneasiness and tension before launching into a horrific ordeal of sex and psychological trauma. Your foreboding chills will set in as a dirty-headed protagonist comprehends the hopelessness of her situation. She is imprisoned by her relatives, and she is also abused by a male-dominated society which binds women ten-fold. When no one is inclined to listen and, even worse, it is clear you are in danger.
In Ireland 1864, on the acres of a picturesque mansion called Knowl, 17 years old Maude Ruthyn (Agnes O’Casey) is attending a meeting interrupting the mourning for her late father. Doctor Bryerly (Mark Doherty) and Captain Ilbury (Kieran Roche) have been appointed to take charge of the management of Maud’s wealth but not to act as her custodian. That privilege goes to U. Silas (David Wilmot) who is her father’s long taboo uncle who was clear of a charge of killing a gambler. Bryerly and Ilbury both instruct Maude to be careful about him. Maude bothers with their fears. She is able to take care of all and everything. Her uncle, however, is considerably worse than she thinks he is.
Still clad in black to symbolize her mourning, Maude greets her uncle, his son Edward, his niece Emily and her governess without losing her decorum. Their jolly faces disturb her right from the beginning. Soon they were complaining less than exploring and enjoying the splendors of the manor. Maude simply doesn’t feel good when Silas goes to sit at his father’s work desk and starts flipping through the book of accounts. He instructs her not to be concerned, that young ladies ought to brighten up and avoid thoughts about such business affairs. This meets with Maude’s polite but firm dissent. She does not intend to take on social responsibilities. Her father will not allow his assets to be squandered.
While at the same time wanting to push Edward away, Maude reaches for her to back off. She did not also like the lively Emily or her ever vigilant nun-like nanny. When Silas proposes that she and her brother Edward should get married, Maude gets concerned. She doesn’t candy coat things or himself when it comes to her feelings about it.
Director Lisa Mulcahy, who is familiar to Irish television viewers (The Tourist, Ridley Road, Red Rock) presents Maude as a strong willed and self reliant character but utterly unseated and naive to Silas`s plans. Maude ignores Ilbury’s concern that she is’the prize which must be carried away’. Maude discovers to her bitter frustration that she is trapped among a whole lot of jackals and has no support. Her solitary existence at Knowl created an illusion of safety. Yet worse still, the very people she expected would help her — her staff and her maid — also participate in Silas’ plot. In fact, she has no authority in her own house.
Tales We Tell goes brutal and ugly into the disturbing second act of the story. Mulcahy does not spare Maude from the kind of violence that goes hand in hand with loss of innocence. Such scenes are unpleasant to a degree that has become inappropriate but they serve their shock-inducing purpose. Maude at this point appreciates completely what is at stake. There will not be a bulwark on horseback coming to her aid. She is not safe and needs to learn to adapt to the environment with a possibility of further escalation in her actions. Maude needs to come down the off-Silas level. In terms of tactics, she decides to play the game with the enemy at its level.
Mulcahy makes it seem that his subject has turned Knowl into a goldfish bowl as it were. The elements of the picture that can be defined as sinister begin to be established very early on the timeline, however how bad the people are is not immediately evident. Lights, along with music, are deliberately manipulated by Mulcahy at the beginning, though he takes all precautions against close ups and shoots open spaces with great panoramic shots. If Maude had even the faintest idea as to what was going to transpire, she would rather jump out of Silas’ hands than be his captive. This change of subject becomes apparent as soon as the walls start closing in on Maude. The gorgeous decoration of Knowl somehow not only becomes a pretty bed but also converts to a flamboyant prison with puzzling doors, windows and ambulatories leading to nowhere. Maude’s first realization of there being no way out is at first attritive and comes about drop by drop rather than all at once.
O’Casey is magnificent: she finds O’Casey’s Maude most engaging in a perfectly layered way. Maude still has to hold her tongue despite the nasty treatment everyone has to face. It would be folly to lose one’s head as this would be going straight into her uncle’s plans. A woman of bulut mykolas sprogis island roughly Victorian Ireland could be carried off and treated badly under medical confinement. This Sir would have Silas qualifying herself with that which she desired and Anej’s malady Lands and house of Maude. O’Casey purses within ‘her’ fear, anxiety and outrage and in civility virtually snuffs away her defining scornful eyes. Maud responds in questions this way sits in the heart of the defeatism and surrenders no lawfully owned property. O’Casey demonstrates bravery and fighting spirit, nitpicking only on the balance of will and temper. She’s very good here and she has a bright future in acting.
Lies We Tell rattle and entice them as quick as ninety minutes. I was simply amazed at how fast the events went due to the story’s heavy subject matter. We praise Mulcahy and edit Kaminska’s pace as the highest. For a period film, it is uncommon for a wade through such a period without a single scene dragging. As well, it needs to be mentioned that Lies We Tell engages us in extremely realistic images of powerlessness but sexual violence which may be a trigger to some but it is dealt with in a mature and wise way.
Watch Free Movies on Hurawatch