Review of Where the Truth Lies (2005) by Chris D — 07 Aug 2012

Atom Egoyan's most daring picture. I don't understand why a lot of people thought Alison Lohman was badly miscast. She wasn't bad at all and she pretty much held my attention throughtout the rest of the picture.

Kevin Bacon is good as Lanny Morris and so is Rachel Blanchard as Maureen but the best performance comes from Colin Firth as Vince Collins, who is a sharp character with a conscience even when he's at his most vulnerable.

The best scene in the picture is the menage à trois sequence and the very last act of the picture. Not because of the sexual acts the characters engage in but the way how important key information is mentioned through flashback and voiceover.

I can understand why such and such has happened, who was the real accomplice in the murder, and who was the one made responsible and why. Egoyan's filmmaking trademarks is evident in "Where The Truth Lies", shifting the narrative through time, making me drift through the process while also being fascinated on screen.

Themes involving damaged women is evident, first with Maureen, then Karen (Lohman) and a maybe a third would be the young girl who portrays Alice (Kristin Adams). WTTL almost feels like a TV movie, and yet at the same time the picture left quite an impression on me.

It's one of those picture I wouldn't mind going back to.