The Truth; Truth is The Truth is... Da Truth. Grade: B+
The Truth tells a story about a famous actress named Fabienne (Catherine Deneuve), whom recently released her autobiography The Truth, as it already sold over a 100,000 copies! While Fabienne is getting ready to shoot for her next film, she is reunited with her daughter Lumir (Juliette Binoche) and the rest of her small family. Lumir reads the novel, as she finds out majority of the details behind the story is completely false. Witness a mother/daughter bond get rediscovered over the course of time, while you see the true identity of Fabienne.
The Cinematography was pretty good, this was a lovely elegant looking film, has a very classical feel to it. The Score when presented was solid. The cast as a whole was honestly strong, one of the best traits to the film. Catherine Deneuve playing Fabienne was pretty excellent, really compliments this successful yet insecure movie star. We are never supposed to feel as Fabienne was a good person, as her selfishness brings out the worst side of herself, in which her fans could never see... Kind of reminds me of almost all celebrities. But as time goes on... There is reasoning behind the person Fabienne, as it brings more attention towards her insecurities and even jealousy. Lumir played by Juliette Binoche was great as well, I felt her chemistry with Catherine was grand. Lumir brings a lot of detail and attention towards her relationship with her mother, as well as small glimpses with her own family. As you can see Lumir with her family is very relaxed and lackadaisical, as their one loving family. But with Lumir and her mother it's an entirely different story. You can sense a very different vibe, as there is tension between the relationship, as it's all brought on by the mother. Ethan Hawke playing Hank; Lumir's love interest was honestly cool. I like how simple the character Hank is, as he's just a figure of love, whom is care free, as he enjoys the life he lives and is great with children.
I guess where flaws land with The Truth is some scenes drag here and there. Before this whole quarantine stuff, pre sale tickets for The Truth was going on sale in March, of course release got shifted to V.O.D. later on. I appreciate the fact The Truth cost a discounted price ticket, in which the theater that was supposedly booked for this film was playing in, so that was nice.
Truth is (No Pun Intended)... The Truth was extremely enjoyable. What's funny is the main character of this film wrote a autobiography about herself, as it was clear to be entirely fictional. But yet in a way... The story is showing us the real truth behind this character, as we discover details of her own life story, through settle sequences... Very neat idea. The story was well written, felt the dialogue was extremely strong as it carries the simplicity of the story. What helps was every character was well written, fully developed, as everyone featured in this film contribute a moral purpose in the story. Even characters whom were limited in their roles, like the actresses on set or Fabienne's ex husband still had something of value to offer to the story. Two years in a row we received two PG films (The Farewell and The Truth) that didn't cater towards just children, as their matured enough to be offered to both adults and even children. It was honestly a lovely little experience as a whole.
Overall, The Truth was a pretty damn good film. I highly recommend checking this one out, can be rented out by various streaming platforms. -Mitch Smietana