The Lie is part of the Welcome to the Blumhouse anthology of films that is streaming on Amazon Prime. The Lie as well as Black Box started streaming on October 6th. It is based on the German film We Monsters (2015). The film is written and directed by Veena Sud who also wrote and directed The Stranger, a thriller series on Quibi. The beginning covers the birth of a couple’s daughter, Kayla, and her growing up on camera. Her parents are Rebecca (Mireille Enos) and Jay (Peter Sarsgaard). Enos was in the Good Omens series. Sarsgaard starred in the dramatic series The Looming Tower. They seem like a fun, well adjusted family. Now on a rainy car trip, Kayla (Joey King) now fifteen, is in the backseat with her headphones on. King played Christine in The Conjuring (2013). Her mother reminds Kayla to have her inhaler. Her step-father is dropped off at the airport. Kayla wants to stay home, but her mother is going to drop her off at for a ballet retreat. Kayla is not excited about it.
They reach the apartment and Kayla says that she is hungry. Jay appears and offers her pancakes. They are joined by Trini (Dani Kind), Jay’s girlfriend. Rebecca leaves to work as a lawyer. Kayla enters her father’s car frustrated. Jay enters the car, finds out his ex-wife didn’t know about his girlfriend, then drives. On the road, Kayla is excited to see her friend sitting at a bust stop, Britney (Devery Jacobs). They offer a ride to Britney, she stares at Jay driving, she likes the music which is from Jay’s band. Kayla notes the mark on Britney, self-inflicted? Britney asks Jay to pull over so she can go to the bathroom. Kayla and Britney head off to the woods. After some waiting, Jay walks in the snow, calling out for his daughter. It is snowing, he calls out for both girls, and then there is a scream!
He runs towards a bridge, Kayla is sitting on the edge of it, the river is rushing below her. Jay grabs her off of the railing and asks about her friend, Kayla looks towards the river, and Jay sees Britney’s pink purse on the river bank. Jay runs to the river bank, jumps into the icy river, and calls Britney’s name. Kayla picks up Britney’s phone. Jay runs back to the car looking for Kayla’s phone. Kayla admits, “I pushed her.” A truck approaches and Jay has them hide at the side of the car. Jay has them back in the car, panting, and then he continues driving. He is nervously walking to Rebecca’s office and mentions that their daughter is in the car. At the outside of the building, Rebecca says Kayla is a “spoiled brat” because he lets her get away with everything. Jay goes to find Kayla who is on a swing saying she can’t breathe. He wants to bring her back to his loft, but his ex-wife pulls Kayla away. At home, Kayla is on the couch with her mother, she asks Jay if “she is pretty.”
There is a phone call from the ballet school. Jay suggests to tell them that Kayla is sick. Kayla is taking a bubble bath, Rebecca enters and sees a tear in her pants, she demands to know what happened. Rebecca enters, stunned, Jay is standing silent. Later, Jay wants a lawyer for his daughter. Rebecca says that Kayla will be tried as an adult. She wants to drive to the river, but Jay says that the fall, the river, and the cold would have killed Britney. This seems like a morality play of parents covering for their child. It could be that both girls are playing a trick on Jay. The difficulty is that there is no body. Another part is that both parents don’t go over the exact events, exact words said, with Kayla. The best route would be to call the police and say that both girls were on the bridge, but Britney fell in an accident. Rebecca takes Kayla’s pants to a grill and burns it. She sees Kayla is asleep in her room and closes the room.
In the morning, the river is rushing, and then we see the body of Britney! Rebecca is startled awake. A dream? Later, Sam (Cas Anvar), Britney’s father, shows up. Rebecca tries to lie that her daughter is in the hospital. This also involves Detective Tagata (Patti Kim). The blame is shifted to Sam. Kayla admits to her father that the boys pay attention to Britney and she was jealous of her. The incident tears both families apart. If this is a mindgame played by both girls, it is cruel, if it is just Kayla as a plot to get her family back together, then this is evil. If not, then both parents are complicit in what would be the death of Britney. The truth will come out, it always does. The Lie is about deception between broken families and the lies we tell ourselves, jealousy, and what parents will do to protect their children.
Three Cellphones out of Five!
#TheLie, #WelcometotheBlumhouse, #VeenaSud, #JoeyKing,#MireilleEnos, #PeterSarsgaard
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