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Film Title:

Lie With Me

 

Programme: VISIONS

Director: Clement Virgo

Country: Canada

Year: 2005

Language: English

Time: 92 minutes

Film Types: Colour/35mm

Rating: R

 

Production Company: Conquering Lion Pictures Inc.

Executive Producer: Julia Rosenberg

Producer: Clement Virgo, Damon D'Oliveira

Screenplay: Tamara Faith Berger, Clement Virgo, based on the novel by Berger

Cinematography: Barry Stone

Editor: Susan Maggi

Production Designer: Kathleen Climie

Sound: Jane Tattersall, David McCallum, Daniel Pellerin

Music: Byron Kent Wong

Principal Cast: Lauren Lee Smith, Eric Balfour, Polly Shannon, Ron White, Kate Lynch, Don Francks

A distaff version of Last Tango in Paris, Clement Virgo's sultry Lie With Me follows twenty-something Leila (Lauren Lee Smith) over the course of a particularly steamy summer. Leila is a carnal adventurer, addicted to anonymous sex - well, sex of any kind, actually. When she's not cruising Toronto's Queen Street for possible conquests (preferably as many as possible at one time), she's prowling nightclubs and parties or at home watching porn. Demanding and commanding, she's completely in charge during all of her encounters, stage-directing her partners regardless of their wishes. Leila is on a quest for physical satisfaction, not love or emotion. But, slowly, things change; as she puts it, there's something gnawing away inside of her that she's determined to deal with.

 

Enter David (Eric Balfour), a lean hipster who immediately catches Leila's eye. As evinced by the tender way he cares for his aging, ailing father (played by veteran actor Don Francks), David isn't like her other partners: he wants a lot more than just meaningless sex. Leila's prized autonomy is further disturbed by the news that her parents are breaking up. Her mother (Kate Lynch) turns needy, while her father (Ron White) slips into pot-fuelled lethargy.

 

Co-written by Virgo and Tamara Faith Berger, whose writing frequently foregrounds female sexuality, Lie With Me honours Leila's desire: her needs are addressed frankly, without judgment, and her yearnings are mirrored in the film's languorous tone. The proceedings seem to float in a sensual haze and this miasmic feel reflects Leila's belief that the whole city feels the same way she does.

 

At the same time, the hothouse atmosphere suggests that there's something amiss in Leila's atomized worldview. As her relationship with David grows shaky and she's confronted with her own responsibilities towards her parents, Leila begins to see her carefully constructed existence crumble, raising the question: is it her independence she prizes or is she genuinely afraid of feeling something?

 

Directed with lyrical assurance, Lie With Me demonstrates why Virgo has long been considered one of Canada's most daring and original talents.

 

- Steve Gravestock

 

Clement Virgo was born in Jamaica and studied at the Canadian Film Centre in Toronto. He has made three short films including Save My Lost Nigga Soul (93). His acclaimed debut feature, Rude (95), opened the Perspective Canada programme at the 1995 Festival. His other feature films are The Planet of Junior Brown (97), One Heart Broken into Song (99), Love Come Down (00) and Lie With Me (05).

 

 

 

Edited by TX
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