The Truth

Mothers and daughters. La vérité, or The Truth, is your basic wacky family tale involving Lumir (Juliette Binoche), her English-speaking husband (Ethan Hawke), and their daughter (Manon Clavel) visiting her famous mother (Catherine Deneuve) who has just released an autobiography and is now working on an avant-garde sci-fi film (which coincidentally also deals with the relationship between a mother and daughter).

The cast elevates what is otherwise a rather straightforward film from Hirokazu Koreeda about the little moments between family members, the struggles of an actor, familial disapproval, the burdens of living with a self-absorbed celebrity, and the scars of memory. Deneuve is obviously enjoying herself as the over-the-top Fabienne Dangeville and the supporting cast forced to put up with her is solid. So too is the unexpected relationship with her co-star Clémentine Grenier which, along with the publication of a book that plays fast and loose with the truth, forces both confrontation and reconciliation between mother and daughter.