Lie With Me * * * ½

"I think you knew my Papa."
"Did I ever."

Lie with Me (aka Stop Telling Lies) is a newly released French film which vacillates between quality drama and soapiness. It's adapted from the best selling novel by Philippe Besson, which in itself is a story about a best selling novelist. 

The novelist, Stephane returns to his home town where he has accepted an invitation to speak at the local festival.  The town he originally hailed from is celebrated for its cognac.  No sooner does he arrive than he starts to get flash-backs of his youth.  Thus for much of the film we frequently go back to the nineteen eighties when he was at high school and realised he is gay.  

The young Stephane begins a sexual relationship with another student, Thomas, though Thomas is more likely to be bi-sexual than gay.  We also learn that Thomas would be ashamed to be caught having a relationship with another male.  They agree to keep their affair a secret.  

In the present day, Stephane has to do a book reading and signing.  He meets a young man Lucas, who is a tour guide and chaperone.  Lucas claims to have little knowledge of Stephane's books. He says he is not much of a reader. However they feel a connection and it soon becomes apparent that Lucas is the son of his old lover, Thomas. 

Things get complicated between Lucas and the mature Stephane, especially when Stephane finds out that Lucas knows a lot more about him than he is letting on, and then Stephane learns what happened to Thomas and why he'll never be able to reconnect with him again.

Compounding Stephane's challenge in dealing with this information and these memories, is the fact that he is expected to deliver a speech which he hasn't even begun to prepare!

Although well acted and beautifully shot, there are times when I found this film quite moving, but other times when I found it all a bit too contrived.  There are some funny scenes. It's a charming, but somewhat forgettable story - a bit like the original novel I guess.