I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Firstly, I watched this film online, so I watched in two parts. I have no patience to watch films longer than 90 minutes in one go, regardless of the quality. I really like the film and the characters, there is not much story, but to me this is just about watching a group of friends interact. There may not be much background to how they act, but that is how things are with friends that you have known for years. Some have mentioned this was all a bit too French, with various clichés throughout. But having spent a summer with French friends in a similar house at the Bordeaux coast, I must say, this is just what it's really like in France. From clothing, to food to kissing everybody all the time. This is real people. Or at least in the social circle I was in.All in all, i really liked it. But maybe I was just being nostalgic.

This is a film about a group of friends who find themselves in some sort of personal crisis that also puts the group friendship to the test as they holiday together after one of them has had an accident.My first question would be: Why are these people even friends? Apart from being selfish,up their own arses and sharing a nasty sense of taking joy in each others little misfortunes - Marie panicking on her water bed while being towed by the others, Max losing his pants when stranded on a sandbank, Eric vomiting when seasick, the man who's name I don't remember having an accident with his boat while texting - there isn't much that points in the direction of a long friendship. I don't mind at all watching a movie about non-likable people IF they are interesting enough, but almost none of them were. The only one who convinced me was Vincent (Benoit Magimel) and his wife (if only she had had a little more material to work with). Marion Cotillard is always fascinating to look at, but had her character been played by a less mesmerising face, I wouldn't have looked at her twice. Her character doesn't come to live, flat as a pancake.And the sexual 'shockers' to keep us interested? What was that all about? The hooker in the café? The cartoon porn watched by Vincent's wife, the 'licking each others pussies' or 'the most I could give you would be a blow-job' giggle giggle? Out of the blue, out of context, going nowhere, like the rest of the movie. Clicé upon cliché about what friendship means,the long table with food and wine, the 'look, now I'm so emotional I'm going to smash something', the Jean-Louis character as the pure, natural soul who sees through it all and brings them all to shame and finally the grand finale at the funeral, tears, more tears and platitudes as they remember a friend who apparently was the 'greatest friend' of them all (I shudder to think what he must have been like)then some more tears and finally laughter through tears and ... wait for it... a group hug.And all this FOR TWO AND HALF HOURS!

How are we suppose to care about those characters, they're pretentious, selfish, loud, self centered, uninteresting, hollow and scornful, the kind of people who I would never speak in real life, the kind of friends who spend their time being horrible to each other 2 hours and a half of a film that tries to make you feel sorry for those drama queens, When their friend died at the end I couldn't care less, I rejoiced cos he seemed the worse of them all ( basically he was a junky and a Sexist bully ) After tell no one, this is a massive let down

French movies tend to be deeper than American films. There is an unwritten law that we get to know the characters much better, and it is almost guaranteed the acting is going to be usually very good. "Lies" has some of the most recognizable faces in contemporary French cinema, and it promises to be an insightful look at friendship, I suppose from the French point of view. It is about friendship and communication, and it does manage to cross cultural barriers because in the end, we're pretty much alike.The premise behind the story has been explored before, but as I mentioned before, we are going to see some sophisticated approaches here, and in one of its shortcomings, the film does run a little long. It could have benefited from a few trims, or in a wiser move, maybe some more background about who these people really are. We know they spend long stretches of time together, and they seem to enjoy the company of each other, though I was wondering how they put up with Max, a man who stands out for being distant, a little arrogant, and not too warm or as down too earth as the rest of the group. He's somehow central to the storyline, and it would have been good to know more about what he means to the rest, beside excellent beach house accommodations.As usual, Marion Cotillard shines in her role as the woman who is not as simple as it appears. She carries emotional baggage (unexplained of course), but it is her facial expressions, her longing, her sad looks, which reveal her unhappiness. Maybe she tries too hard, or not hard enough. It's time to make a choice and decide what could work.Vincent (Benoit Magimel) is quiet but intense, carrying a secret about himself for too long, and it is perfect timing from the director that allows him to stand out. Maybe it is the fact that he says little, and when he speaks, he says only what matters. It is an interesting performance.There is a big question at the end of the film, and it is the incomprehensible decision about the vacation itself. There is a big event at the beginning of the film, and I didn't understand why the trip was taking place so soon. This is supposed to deliver a punch in the final scenes. Maybe it is does reveal what we don't want to know. I had questions about this type of human interaction before and wondered why sometimes the obvious takes so long to happen, if it ever. In most cases regret is usually the end result.