Separate Lies

This DVD is worth getting for the commentary track alone. It's all so British I felt like I was in some Noel Coward play. Julian Fellowes, first time director, Oscar-winning writer of Gosford Park, showed an interesting blend of British haughtiness and sensitive introspection. He also wrote the screenplay, based loosely on a novel, that explores, as one might expect, separate lies, and the separate lives and perspectives from which they spring. The lies start falling like bricks from a crumbling building once Anne, played by Emily Watson, accidently runs over a neighbor.

She holds her secret a bit until her husband, James (Tom Wilkinson) begins to suspect their bachelor neighbor Bill, (Rupert Everett) was at the wheel. During an all too Martha Stewart-like chopping session, she admits to her husband first, that she was with Bill when the man was hit, then that she was driving (Great Gatsby anyone?) and then that, OK, she fucks Bill. Hubby barfs and then his moral dilemmas begin. Seems that James was all for "doing the right thing" and turning Bill in, even before he knew he was fucking his wife. But, now that his wife is the driver, well, how would that look for a rich, important barrister to have a hit-and-run wife?

So, the lies begin. It's an interesting exploration of morality because, although we have affairs and even a killing, there are no real villains. Fellowes himself says when he's asked who the audience is supposed to root for, his answer is "all of them". One would think the adulterous, reckless Anne would come off pretty badly but we understand her affair. James is a straight up, hardworking guy but insensitive, removed. I can't put it any better than Fellowes who describes the situation as one where Anne is diminished, nothing she ever does is quite right. With Bill, she can breathe. We also forgive the accident, as does the victim's wife, because she shows true contrition and wants to confess.

Bill, one might think, could also be viewed askew, he doesn't much care about conventions or black and white morality. He shows no remorse for having the affair. However, I find James, who tries to follow all the rules, until he himself ends up in bed with his secretary, to be the least sympathetic because he represents that rigid, arrogant, rich, upper crust mentality that just assumes everyone should show the benefit of breeding. Anyway, the lies all intertwine like filigree, as we watch how the different characters deal with dishonesty.

We see the impact of each lie as the truth is revealed. Don't we all live lives of little lies we don't even see? Sometimes all the little lies add up to a very dishonest life. We compromise to coexist, we end up as people we never set out to be, we say it's OK when it's not, pretend we're happy when we're not. No one lives without lies and we all have to make judgments every day about how to juggle the various facts and fallacies of our lives. Sometimes people don't even know when they are lying to themselves or others. Lies come from fear. When we tell the truth, we often hear it in return, and the fear of that keeps many in the darkness of secrets and lies.

Who is more honest, the person who tries to follow the rules, but who lives a life of uncomfortable compromise, or someone who flaunts conventions but is willing to present himself as he really is? For me, the latter. Who's more honest, the person who has the affair or the one who lives as though he's happily married when he's not? For me, these murky moral issues become clear when you look for the fear. If you look, you'll find the fear. In my opinion, fear is the measure of a man. Don't look for the lies, we all lie. Look for the fear, that will tell you the trustworthiness of the man.