Lie with Me

I checked this out after hearing about it, mostly due to its somewhat controversial nature. The movie was filmed with unsimulated sex scenes, but it does not verge into the pornographic. There are no close-ups of penetration and no orgasm. I was curious to see what this could add, if anything, to a movie, and what could of movie might warrant such a choice. Unfortunately, while it does lend itself to the mood this movie is going for, the movie itself fails to be much of anything. I will give it some praise, maybe more than a two star movie normally gets. The movie is brightly lit, to the point of giving everything a warm, soft visual appeal. It’s supposed to play into, and really contrast, against the movie’s themes. Sunlight and warmth evoke romance, which this movie is about, in a roundabout way. And the two main characters, played by Lauren Lee Smith and Eric Balfour, serve their characters well. Smith’s Leila is hedonistic, indulging in drinking and random sex because she feels no real joy or emotional connection to anyone. Neither does Balfour’s David. When these two collide, they trigger something in one another, an awakening of emotions and connection that is alien to both. There is definitely chemistry, and that is captured both in and out of the sex scenes (of which there is a LOT). The sex scenes are a topic all unto their own, having a rawness and a realism without feeling staged. It’s all fumbling and groping and desperate consumption, lustful and animalistic in one sense, but also a need to be with that one person wholly and deeply. Though there is a ton of sex scenes, and it can get quite tiring in the middle third, they’re shot in a way to evoke the mood the movie is going for. That feeling of being not only overwhelmed by a primal and emotional need for someone, but these feelings being utterly foreign and frightening. Unfortunately, while the movie does a marvelous job with displaying those moods, that is all it does. There is no plot to speak of. These two meet, we watch them have a LOT of sex, break up when the feelings get too real, and (spoilers) get back together. It’s like a rom-com without either rom or com. There is no exploration of these characters whatsoever. Why are they so empty inside that random hook-ups and getting blackout drunk is all they do? Why do they bring about the emotions they’ve been searching for in each other? There is no hint of arc or growth in either of them, which makes the whole movie feel inert. It doesn’t expect you to engage with Leila and David, and unless you’re of a very narrow subset of people, you won’t identify with them either. You’re just there to witness attractive people have a lot of sex, be toxic to one another, and then find their way back to one another. There are no questions asked, no answers suggested, no nothing. What you see is what you get, and that isn’t much. If all you want from a movie is a pervasive, darkly lustful atmosphere without such bothers as story or characters, this will definitely do the trick. Or perhaps you and your significant other are looking for a little something to set the mood for a naughty evening, but don’t want to go full-on porn. This will also scratch that itch. But if you want your movie to actually movie, Lie With Me doesn’t do that. It can’t do that. It can’t do much of anything besides be an artful Skinemax movie about 10 years late to the party.