Truly Dreadful Film

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

"The Color Of Lies" is a whodunit, Chabrol-style: by limiting the number of suspects (who matter) to a minimum and basically focusing on the central character and one burning question - did he or didn't he? - Chabrol gives us plenty of time (some might say too much) to contemplate the implications of each possible answer: either an ordinary everyman is hiding a monstrous, inhuman killer inside, or a chronically unlucky, innocent man gets unfairly stigmatized by rumors and small-town-talk. For me the answer, when it finally comes, was quite a well-hidden surprise, but Chabrol adds another last-minute twist that does not really hold up; conclusive film endings are not his forte. On the other hand, making his films look and sound great IS his forte, and this one is no exception. There is something admirable about the way he sticks to his own measured, methodical style even at the turn of the millennium. Sandrine Bonnaire is wonderful, but Valeria Bruni Tedeschi seems both too young and too soft-voiced for her role as a police Inspector, though she gives it her best shot. **1/2 out of 4.

Hi :) I've just seen 5x2 and I was stricken by the main actress's voice and was so sure that I had seen this actress before. I'm french and live in Australia for many years now. Here we have SBS (special Broadcasting Service) A TV station broadcasting many different countries movies) All I could remember from this movie was that voice...Then... this was of a police woman. It gave me a very strange feeling as if something was wrong, but I watched the movie and to be honest remembered little about it either good or bad beside my earlier comment. I would like to thank IMDb for the power of their database as in desperation I input "Valeria Bruni Policiere" and I came to this movie which I'm pretty sure is the right one. Please if you were put off by Valeria then, do not miss 5x2 on this account. So was the movie so forgettable or my memory failing me, I'll let you be the judge of this. Unlike the first comment chosen to describe it I can't remember being bored but,yes, I had to get use to that voice!

In this and some other of Claude Chabrol's movies, it is as though he sets out to defy himself and his audience to feel any emotion. The pace is even; characters rarely raise their voices or lose their tempers; there is no on-screen violence; and the sex is minimal and decorous. The colour is carefully orchestrated, with cool blue predominating; and though the film is set by the sea, this is not the warm, seductive Mediterranean, but the cold, off-putting Atlantic; when the weather deteriorates, there are no violent storms, simply thick fog.Though superficially a drama about the rape and murder of a young girl, the real subject of the film is deceit and lying. From the trompe l'oeil paintings of the main suspect René Sterne (Jacques Gamblin), through marriage infidelity, to the smug hypocrisy of TV celebrity G-R Desmot (Antoine de Caunes), all is a sham. Nor does Chabrol shy away from reminding us that the film medium itself is based on illusion - a character reassures another "that's the sort of thing you only see in movies". But for all the movie's careful construction, and despite my trying hard to suspend disbelief, some elements of the film remained deeply unconvincing and even ludicrous. In particular, I found it impossible to accept Valeria Bruni Tedeschi as a police chief with an ultra-mild demeanour and a penchant for pink knitwear. Also, the film ended so abruptly that I for one missed any final point made by Chabrol. Nevertheless, there may be viewers more discerning than I who will find more value in this movie.

The hypothesis of Chabrol: that life in society is only possible if it is based on lies, in the film, is a total lie! Also, it's interesting that the narrator at the actual time of these problems: pedophilia, unemployment, female cops (on television), was neurotic. It seems contrived in many situations: the infidelity of Vivianne (the nude painting of her), the assassin (the photo that was found in the assassin's bag).