The Colour of Lies

Au coeur du mensonge

When a young girl is found murdered in a Breton coastal town, a community begins to devour itself, in this thriller about the social poison that a crime unleashes.

  • Director

    Claude Chabrol

  • With

    Sandrine Bonnaire, Jacques Gamblin, Antoine de Caunes

  • France 1999. 113min

  • Digital 4K

  • Certificate

    15

  • English subtitles

When a young girl is found murdered in a small Breton coastal town, suspicion falls on a local painter – a man of volatile temperament and uncertain alibi – as the community begins to turn on itself. Fans of Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt will recognise much here. However, Chabrol is less interested in identifying the killer than in capturing the poisonous social atmosphere that the crime unleashes: the rumour, the prejudice and the quiet savagery of village life.

Contains scenes of harm towards children and rape.

Also available on BFI Player