Le suspect idéal

An epileptic man takes a lie detector test to prove he had nothing to do with the death of a stripper. During the test, the private lives of the investigators comes to light due to an investigation by the investigated man. This causes the case to take a strange turn. The film flashed back and forth in time showing the cheap tawdry lives of all involved in the bizarre circumstances. Great story and fascinating dialogue kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through. 4 stars.

A prostitute is brutally murdered and the police's only lead is James Walter Wayland, a drunken epileptic who is heir to a very successful textiles company. With little to go on but his testimony, Detectives Braxton and Kennesaw hook him up to a polygraph and begin to question him further. Wayland's arrogance and contempt for them immediately rubs them up the wrong way and they increasingly suspect that he is not telling them everything. They keep pushing him, aware of his illness, in the hope that he will start to crack. However what they never foresaw was that Wayland would push back, getting information on both the men and turning the tables on them.

With a pretty heavy weight cast, I was attracted to this film when it went by the much better name of 'Liar' in the UK without really knowing a great deal about it. The film has an interesting premise and offers a good flashback structure with some tense interrogation scenes but the plot is not strong enough to really deliver this and ends up twisting into some silly places that fail to convince. The development of the story meant we were thrown in at the deep end – not a problem at first, but I never really got a handle on the film until near the end, making sections of it unengaging. The way the plot turns and twists is also a problem, because very little of it actually rings true, with some of it seeming extreme or just plain nonsensical. It is delivered well though, the interview room is used to increase the tension and seems to become steadily darker throughout the film to produce a good mood.

This tense mood is helped by a pretty good cast, in particular the lead three who have enough testosterone to start a riot. Roth plays the meatier role from the start and he does have fun even if I didn't think his epileptic thing really worked that well. Penn is OK but doesn't have much to do other than bash heads with his co-stars, but it is Rooker who manages to steal a lot of the film. Starting with the feel of just a tough guy role, Rooker delivers a much more complex person with self-loathing that is convincing (up until the script takes his character away). The three interact well and the tension between them almost covers from the fact that the story isn't actually that good – but their shared scenes at least have a tough energy that makes them watchable. Support from Arquette, Zellweger and Burstyn is fleeting but adds the feeling of depth.

Overall this is not that good a film; the story isn't convincing and is full of silly jumps, nor is it structured that well. However these problems are slightly covered by three tough actors in a small dark room, providing a reasonably good sense of tension and urgency. Of course without the story to back them up, the film gradually starts to come apart and delivers a deeply unsatisfying ending, but it just about has enough going for it to make it watchable.

It isn't too hard to understand why this movie wasn't a great success at the box office. Most people expect to see an average Hollywood version of a cop movie and they will be very disappointed when seeing this one. No, it isn't about the good cop chasing the bad guys, making a beautiful little hole in the forehead of everyone that doesn't obey the law. This movie is much more subtle and probably a lot harder to understand for a lot of people.

In fact, the whole movie is created around only three actors. But not just three actors, we are talking about Chris Penn, Tim Roth and Michael Rooker, who all did an excellent job. Trust me, never have I been more fascinated by three men in a darkened room, pushing each other to their mental and physical limits.

This is how the story goes: A prostitute has been murdered and there is one suspect. He's an extremely intelligent, epileptic alcoholic who is able to deceive everybody, even the polygraph. His investigators try to make him confess the murder by playing little mind games, only to see that he outsmarts them time after time.

The dialogs are fascinating, the use of flashbacks very interesting. Add some tense interrogation scenes with a lot of psychological war fare and a huge plot twist at the end of the movie and you know you have something special. I guess those psychological games will not be understood by everybody, but you'll love it if you are intelligent enough to understand them. I know I did and I give this movie an 8/10.

Somehow this hidden treasure had escaped my radar until now. As usual Tim Roth does not disappoint. The accused characters mentally abused by his disconnected parents, epilepsy and absinthe addicted personality seems custom written for Roth. In truth, few other actors could have pulled that off. There are stories within stories here and the movie holds your attention throughout. A modern day noir with a great surprise ending. Two powerhouse actresses, Patricia Arquette and Renee Zellwegger were under utilized in this film. Chris Penn gives an adequate performance as the junior and somewhat less intelligent assistant detective, but his ignorance is not as great as the audience is made to think. I was a little surprised by the relatively low 6.4 rating. This film deserves much better. Well worth your time.

The cast, the camera work, the music and the dialogue all create a dark and surreal tone that's haunting and riveting. Tim Roth, Renee Zellweger and Ellen Burstyn all dominate so completely that you can't look at anyone else when they're onscreen. It's as much an exercise in acting and "mood" as anything, but the story is fun to follow. I don't think it's supposed to be "believable" in the literal sense. How can it be when they throw in epilepsy, absinthe, prostitution, family dysfunction, etc. Every character was well-cast (LOVED the psychologist) and the tension and undertones in the actor's interactions with each other make it an impossible-to-forget movie. It's one of the few I own. The scenes with Mook (Burstyn) as well as those with Roth and Zellweger are ingenious. A movie that must be watched closely to understand the ending.