the color of lies (au coeur du mensonge) 1999 region free dvd5 french bcbc

***The picture quality on this movie seems a little grainy. Maybe because it's a regular DVD or because it's an older movie. If you like Sandrine Bonnaire and Jacques Gamblin it's worth a look. If you feel it's worth owning on Blu-ray it was released in 2014 and should feature improved picture quality.***



The Color of Lies is a 1999 film co-written and directed by Claude Chabrol. Its title in French is Au cœur du mensonge (literally At the heart of the lie). The film was entered into the 49th Berlin International Film Festival.

Contains movie and Optional English Subtitles. No menus or extras. Regular DVD quality (Not BD, 1080p etc...). Seeding/Feedback appreciated. Thank You.











Plot

In a small town in Brittany, a 10-year-old girl is found murdered. The last person to see her alive was her art teacher and professional artist René (Gamblin). He soon becomes the primary suspect in the murder investigation spearheded by the new chief of police Frédérique Lesage (Bruni-Tedeschi), which destroys his life as people in the small town believe that he is the killer although there is no hard evidence. René is completely dedicated to his wife (Bonnaire), a nurse whose perpetual happy mood is the polar opposite of his personality. Meanwhile, Frederique becomes better acquainted with the eccentric residents of the town, including an arrogant television journalist (de Caunes), a small-time crook who fences stolen goods (Marlot), and a bizarre pair of married shopkeepers (Ogier and Simsolo).



Cast

Sandrine Bonnaire, Jacques Gamblin, Antoine de Caunes, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Bernard Verley, Bulle Ogier, Pierre Martot, Noël Simsolo, Rodolphe Pauly, Adrienne Pauly, Véronique Volta, Sylvie Flepp, Florent Gibassier, Thomas Chabrol, Wendy Malpeli



The Color of Lies (Au coeur du mensonge)

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Helen Van Kruyssen

Claude Chabrol masters melancholia as well as suspense in a tale that starts abruptly with a young girl found murdered in the woods of a Breton coastal-town. The last person to see her is her art teacher, René (Jacques Gamblin), who has just given her a lesson in the remote stone cottage he shares with his wife, Vivianne (Sandrine Bonnaire). The cottage is located on the edge of the beach, with woodland just behind. And so, of course, René becomes the main suspect.



‘Au Coeur du Mensonge’ is more a story about René’s crippling mental state than a murder mystery. Chabrol paints René’s distress with a brittle brush. René’s life is unfortunate: he hasn’t exhibited in ten years, he and Vivianne struggle with money, and now suspicions of his paedophilia spiral his melancholia. ‘Everything I do manages to drag me down a bit more,’ he claims.



Bonnaire’s Vivianne remains stoic in her patience and understanding, yet a thundering sadness lies beneath, as she struggles to connect with her husband. This is briefly alleviated by the sexual attention of a local resident: the louche ‘celebrity’ journalist/novelist (Antoine de Caunes). His success is unbearable for René; it makes him plummet even further and drives him closer to paranoia.



Chabrol locates the couple’s malaise in a landscape and house as bleak and beautiful as René and Vivianne’s marriage. They live in a small stone cottage that shelters their discontent, and from their moments of tenderness and continuing emotional panic, they have a view of the wild open sea.



Frédérique (Valerie Bruni Tedeschi), the beautiful Parisian Commissaire (Chief of Police), is the calm and graceful sail, guiding the investigation towards a certain truth. It is through Frédérique that Chabrol skims the narrative with pebbles of insight on provincial life: ‘in a small town people are jealous and resentful. They have to talk, you just need to listen.’ But as Frédérique discovers, small towns don’t break easily: confessions are withheld, and told only, in the final moment (Chabrol-style), to those who won’t breathe a word.