Screening: Arrête avec tes mensonges (Lie with me)

*** Film with English subtitles

Stéphane Belcourt is a “great writer of…the end of love,” stuck circling an attachment 35 years prior with virile yet reticent Thomas Andrieu. When he meets Thomas’ inquisitive son in his former region of Cognac, France, he is forced to unmask the truths behind the lies his stories tell.

Brought to Cognac in a bustle of fans and press, Stéphane (Guillaume de Tonquédec and Jérémy Gillet) is paralyzed by a mental swirl of sex and giddiness, unable to concentrate on anything but his first love [Julien De Saint Jean of the festival’s Le paradis (The Lost Boys)] who abandoned him long ago, without a trace. Until he meets Thomas’ progeny, Lucas (Victor Belmondo, gorgeous grandson of classic film star Jean-Paul Belmondo), whose relationship with his deceased father is just as murky. As Stéphane digs deeper into his ex-lover’s story, he falls back in love with Thomas’ ghost and discovers the real reason why he’s been brought home. Based on a bestselling book by the prolific Philippe Besson, Lie with Me pairs swooning romance and thoughtful drama, dashing it with the Cognac-bite of humour. Expressing all that is lost and gained through knowledge.