Separate Lies
April 2006 Reviewed by: Josh Barber Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

James Manning (Tom Wilkinson) seems to have the perfect life. He is a successful businessman in London, and on the weekends he and his lovely wife Anne (Emily Watson) retreat to their small estate in the British countryside. He's a moral man, a firm believer in right and wrong and in his own ability to judge between the two. Expecting a quiet weekend, James instead finds himself dragged off to the hospital. The cleaning lady's husband was struck by a hit-and-run driver and is near death.

From there, things begin falling apart. James suspects that their neighbor William (Rupert Everett) may have been the driver, but Anne insists that he is innocent, even as the evidence mounts against him. Soon, the secrets that everyone has been keeping spill out, creating a great deal of turmoil in the town and in the Manning household.

The package describes this film as "a sexy thriller with shocking twists," but that may be a bit misleading. To me, calling something a thriller implies intrigue or sinister intent, and Separate Lies is lacking in that regard. Everything has that peculiar English veneer of being very proper and slightly stuffy, so the story is never thrilling. For that matter, it' is not exactly sexy, either. The blurb makes Separate Lies sound like Basic Instinct, and that's not the case.

The cast does well with what they have been given, but that is, unfortunately, not very much. We know that the characters are keeping things back from one another, but you almost get the feeling that they are holding back from the audience as well. They are sneaky and selfish, and that's about it. This film isn't quite an hour and a half long, and with some more time, perhaps the characters could have become more three-dimensional people. Everyone, from the main performers to the supporting actors, does a very good job, but even the best acting is not enough to lift a leaden story very high.

Separate Lies is a flipper disc, with the widescreen presentation on one side and fullscreen on the other. While I applaud Fox for not putting out two versions of the film, I have never liked flippers and I probably never will. On the plus side, the film looks and sounds beautiful, no matter which side you're watching. Sweeping vistas of the English countryside are presented without any major flaws, and the accident that opens the movie will hit your speakers just as hard as it hits the unfortunate victim.

Extras are extremely light, but we do get a commentary from writer/director Julian Fellowes. Considering how dour Separate Lies becomes, his solo discussion is remarkably upbeat and energetic. He doesn't match the tone of the film at all, but his track is definitely worth listening to. Just give yourself some time to digest the film before going back to revisit it with his company.

Separate Lies is not the easiest movie to watch, nor the most uplifting, but it is worth seeing. Rent before you buy, but be sure to turn on the commentary before returning the disc.

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