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| COMPULSIVE LIAR 2 "She lies to make people happy" |
I don't talk about movies from my province all that often, but every once in a while, on a rare occasion, I take an occasion to do so, using this blog. Hey, if it makes others discover movies they've never heard of before, then why not?
Menteuse (English title: Compulsive Liar 2), directed by Émile Gaudreault, is a sequel to the 2019 Quebec film Menteur (...Compulsive Liar), from the same director. These films were compared by their makers to stuff like Groundhog Day; a comedy where the world seems real, but there's something strange, perhaps supernatural, at play, and everything follows from that one inexplicable thing. And since this is a sequel, here's a quick recap of the original:
Simon Aubert is a compulsive liar who lies to prop himself up and get out of trouble. To the exasperation of his colleagues and family, especially his twin brother Phil (Antoine Bertrand), whom he looks nothing alike. One day, Simon tells one too many lies and lands in an alternate reality where all his lies are true; suddenly he can do karate, he has war scars, his phone is always running out of battery, there's always traffic everywhere, his elderly parents hate him... And the only other person to know that something is wrong is his twin brother, due to the birth link he shares with Simon. They eventually figure out that, in order to land back in their true reality, they must undo each and every single one of Simon's lies by making him admit each lie and apologize to the person he told it to.
Since I'm covering a sequel, you can imagine that this one ended well enough.
The story
This time, the compulsive liar is Phil's girlfriend Virginie (Anne-Élizabeth Bossé), who was already showing many of these traits in the previous film. Dreading another reality-shattering event provoked by a tsunami of lies, Phil has been keeping a list of every lie Virginie's been telling, and to whom. Just in case. Virginie's tendency is more in the vein of little white lies, told so that people around her are happier - but they carry the same negative outcomes when she gets found out.
Sure enough, she tells one lie too many, and her reality transforms so that everything she's said is true. Her house is completely different, she's running for mayor (she claimed she loved politics), her friend is a druggie, Phil has become a drama queen, her elderly neighbors are nudists, everyone else in town has become a raging redneck...
Despite his newly-obtained personality flaws caused by the multiversal shift, Phil knows he can get through to Virginie and use the list to set things right. There's only one problem; Virginie's tendency for lying comes from a good place, so despite her willingness to set things right, she just can't help herself. And all of her subsequent lies only make things worse and threaten to tear the entire multiverse apart. To say nothing of her family and her couple!
The review
As I said before, I think sequels should build upon the foundation of the film they're following up on. And in this case, I would say Compulsive Liar 2 does quite well! It expands on the idea first by featuring a different type of liar, and second by having the events play out in a much more different, hectic, intense manner. Everything is cranked up a notch, and that goes for the comedy, too. There's something both adorable and funny in Bossé's character, in the first fifth of the movie, saying things to lift someone's spirit, that are so blatantly false.
The plot could have been a complete mess to follow, since the core concept of the story involve reality alteration with things changing every time a lie is told or undone. Thankfully, the story is constructed in a way that avoids confusion - usually by making sure the alterations are so extreme that you can't ignore them, and are just as glad as the main characters when they're undone.
And because the lies tend to reduce another character to just one trait, in the modified realities those characters become stereotypical, downright caricatural. Exaggeration is the name of the game, because the crazy concept demands it. But it works thanks to stellar performances from all the actors involved (distribution includes other big names among Quebec's actors: Didier Lucien, Pierrette Robitaille, Rémy Girard, Martin Drainville, Véronique le Flaguais, just to name a few). An exemple of exaggerated stereotype caused by a reality-altering lie is Phil turning into a manchild that speaks like a teenaged rapper, Virginie's dad becoming ridiculously positive about everything - especially with things where he shouldn't be - and the druggie friend I mentioned earlier being unable to say three lines without mentioning coke or edibles. But most of these also don't overstay their welcome as the lies that caused these radical personality shifts are erased afterwards.
And although the sources of Virginie's compulsive lying, and its realistic repercussions, are discussed, moments of gravitas or proper drama tend to not stick for long enough. There's a nice discussion in there about why people lie and whether it's for themselves or for others, but the point could have been outlined further. Some special effects involving CGI aren't great - but cut us some slack, Quebec movies don't have huge budgets, they're imperfect but acceptable. The comedy isn't a perfect hit every time, but plenty of moments hit the spot to keep the audiences laughing.
It's a good movie, maybe not groundbreaking, but a great time to be had.
The original Menteur is on Netflix - I don't use streaming services, so I don't know if it's got subtitles, but it's out there. The new one is still in theaters, and it's also worth seeing (...though I doubt they're in any theaters outside of Quebec).
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