The Color of Lies

Released Jan 13, 1999

1h 48m

Mystery & Thriller

List

100%

8 Reviews

Tomatometer

57%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

After the body of a murdered 10-year-old girl is found, the residents of a small seaside town suspect René Sterne (Jacques Gamblin), a formerly famous painter who has become an art teacher. Sterne, the person last seen with the victim, proclaims his innocence. It seems that his wife (Sandrine Bonnaire) is the only one who believes him. Police chief Frédérique Lesage (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi), who is new to the area, must gauge Sterne's guilt, since there is no hard evidence.

Read More

Read Less

Watch on Fandango at Home

Premiered May 20

Buy Now

Fandango at Home

Prime Video

Rent The Color of Lies on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

Audience Member

René Sterne (Jacques Gamblin) was once a famous painter but now lives in a small town and makes the majority of his money as a teacher. His mood is always dark, in contrast to his wife Vivianne (Sandrine Bonnaire), who is an eternally sunny optimist. He needs that light because he's now the main suspect in the assault and murder of a ten-year-old, which is being investigated by the new chief of police, Frédérique Lesage (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi). What does the gossip columnist Germain-Roland Desmot (Antoine de Caunes) know about the case? Is he close to having an affair with Vivianne, who may be withdrawing from the happiness of her life and needing a change? Director Claude Chabrol, who co-wrote this with Odile Barski, was one of the few French New Wave directors to not only keep directing for his entire life, but to make movies that were embraced by the mainstream. He generally kept to these small-town murders and how they impacted the traditional family lives of his victims in many films, variations on a theme that always remain slightly different and engaging, like a series of paintings from one period or theme.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Serge L

A mysterious murder in a small town. A very young victim of a pedophile (I hate this word to describe an abuser. What? Does a cinephile abuses films?!) possibly. There is not much other explanation. This is why I did know what the film was really about. There is mystery, there are many lies, but nothing is gripping. We are in face of the murder witout knowing anything about it. We can't root for the already dead victim. We can only hope the murderer is caught but we are at a loss about how to catch him/her. We hope there will be an unusual resolution, somehow. We follow the characters, eliminating them one after the other as our suspects. We find the guilty was not amongst our suspects but in front of us nevertheless. We also find other criminals being caught along the way and one lucky/unlucky couple. It is a story that seems possible, true and untrue at the same time. Is Chabrol having fun with us? Is this a comedy? I had a really good time pondering while visiting France in film.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/28/15

Full Review

Audience Member

A mysterious murder in a small town. A very young victim of a pedophile (I hate this word to describe an abuser. What? Does a cinephile abuses films?!) possibly. There is not much other explanation. This is why I did know what the film was really about. There is mystery, there are many lies, but nothing is gripping. We are in face of the murder witout knowing anything about it. We can't root for the already dead victim. We can only hope the murderer is caught but we are at a loss about how to catch him/her. We hope there will be an unusual resolution, somehow. We follow the characters, eliminating them one after the other as our suspects. We find the guilty was not amongst our suspects but in front of us nevertheless. We also find other criminals being caught along the way and one lucky/unlucky couple. It is a story that seems possible, true and untrue at the same time. Is Chabrol having fun with us? Is this a comedy? I had a really good time pondering while visiting France in film.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Claude Chabrol was both an amazing and puzzling filmmaker. Though, it seems he went through a bit of a dry spell, he started making highly relevant films again starting in the 1990's through the end of his life. I had forgotten how highly entertaining and interesting this film was until I revisited it again on blu-ray. Just as when I saw it upon its release to US cinemas, it makes me scratch my head. This is not so much a murder mystery as it is a surprisingly fast-paced study of the human condition under crisis. From the very start to the bitter end, the viewer is hooked. Although, he would go on to make better films that fall into this category [ Merci Pour Le Choclat and La Ceremonie come to mind ] -- there is something particularly interesting about this film. Perhaps it seems to "set us up" for a crime caper but delivers something entirely different by the time we arrive to the end. In my opinion, this is very close to a perfectly made film.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The worst role played of a detective!!

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Ä°nsan iliÅkilerini baÅarÄ±yla Ã¶n plana Ã§Ä±karan Claude Chabrol bir polisiyesi. FransÄ±z Yeni Dalga akÄ±mÄ±nÄ±n usta yÃ¶netmeni Claude Chabrolâ(TM)un son dÃ¶nem filmlerinden biri olan Au Coeur Du Mensonge, psikolojik derinliÄi olan gerilimli bir polisiye. KÃ 1/4Ã§Ã 1/4k bir kÄ±yÄ± kasabasÄ± olan Brittanyâ(TM)ye yeni atanan polis Åefi Frederique Lesage iÅinin beklediÄinden daha hareketli geÃ§eceÄini anlamakta gecikmez. 10 yaÅÄ±nda kÃ 1/4Ã§Ã 1/4k bir kÄ±z tecavÃ 1/4ze uÄrayÄ±p Ã¶ldÃ 1/4rÃ 1/4lmÃ 1/4ÅtÃ 1/4r.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Claude Chabrol

Director

Sandrine Bonnaire

Vivianne Sterne

Jacques Gamblin

René Sterne

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi

Frédérique Lesage

Antoine de Caunes

Germain-Roland Desmot

Bernard Verley

Inspecteur Loudun

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

80%

82%

The Unfaithful Wife

77%

55%

Oxygen

9%

32%

Eye of the Beholder

93%

59%

The Bridesmaid

23%

52%

8MM

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Budd Wilkins

Slant Magazine

The Color of Lies is another of Claude Chabrol’s ambiguous explorations of the moral rot at the heart of a rural community.

May 5, 2022

Full Review

Michael Thomson

BBC.com

Rated: 4/5

Nov 13, 2001

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

A deep roster of interesting characters provides this one with its backbone.

Rated: 3/4

May 16, 2022

Full Review

Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

At turns droll and satirical, it isn't ultimately one of the auteur's strongest skewering of the idly privileged, but it is a decent procedural populated by enough familiar faces to make its less engaging stretches watchable.

Rated: 2.5/5

Oct 2, 2019

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

Chabrol could do the traditional murder mystery and detective procedural as well as anyone but this is something else, a low-key study in suspicion, mistrust and small-town gossip where the details are suggested more than stated.

Apr 21, 2017

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

It's a well-executed but not that exciting psychological thriller in Brittany.

Rated: B-

Feb 10, 2007

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

After the body of a murdered 10-year-old girl is found, the residents of a small seaside town suspect René Sterne (Jacques Gamblin), a formerly famous painter who has become an art teacher. Sterne, the person last seen with the victim, proclaims his innocence. It seems that his wife (Sandrine Bonnaire) is the only one who believes him. Police chief Frédérique Lesage (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi), who is new to the area, must gauge Sterne's guilt, since there is no hard evidence.

Director: Claude Chabrol
Screenwriter: Odile Barski, Claude Chabrol
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: French (Canada)
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 13, 1999, Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 20, 2014
Runtime: 1h 48m

Most Popular at Home Now