Very Cool!!!

The greatest movie ever made..!

Absolutely Fantastic

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

James Manning (Tom Wilkinson) is a moralistic London solicitor. He and his wife Anne (Emily Watson)'s housekeeper Maggie loses her husband after a hit and run while riding his bicycle. James had noticed a scratch on playboy Bill Bule (Rupert Everett)'s car. He accuses Bill who agrees to go to the police the next day. Then Anne confesses that she has been having an affair with Bill and was the one who was driving.The problem with the lie to the police is that James Manning is suppose to be a smart top lawyer. The first rule is shut up. There is no reason to lie for Bill's sake. Anne could always claim to not be the driver. Also it's hard to see why James would continue to fight for her. Whatever scandal that would arise from the truth would pale in comparison. These are powerful actors doing solid work. The basic problem is that I don't buy what James Manning is selling.

A very admirable, well-made film, Separate Lies tells a complex tale of fate, lies, infidelities and the precarious truces people make with each other in order to move on.One of the prominent themes in this very human film is that, sometimes, not speaking at all is akin to telling a lie. But in speaking up and accepting responsibility for ones actions, do we inflict further and needless damage and pain?The acting and directing are first-rate, and the cinematography is compelling without being overbearing. The fact that much of the story is set and filmed in the British countryside certainly doesn't hurt either. A competent adult drama filled with interesting characters that the viewer actually does grow to care about, Separate Lies is deserving of much praise.

Now this is the sort of film we used to get weekly . Now-a-days it is rare to see a drama that depends on the cast talking to each other.There are no explosions, car chases or any chases,there are implied sexual situations.This is not film for the younger crowd, It is for those that appreciate people talking to each other,They do argue a lot as we have married couple having mid life problems.Emily Watson & Tom Wilkinson are seemingly a very happy middle aged loving man & wife. Now living in this same small London suburb, handsome, Rupert Everett returns home to visit his wealthy father.He of course meets Emily Watson, It would be easy for anyone to be smitten by Emily. I say no more, except that as the credits begin there is a fatal accident,the rest of the film is about the repercussions of this accident & all the lies the various characters tell..The acting by this trio & the others is excellent.Julien Fellows wrote the screenplay based on a novel by Nigel Balchin. He also directed, this was his first directorial attempt & he did very well. The entire production is first rate.The film had a few month theatrical run in late 2005, is under 80 theatres. This to me is a shame, Stupid comedies open on at least 2000 screens but real good drams as this & many others open in only a few.By the way there are some very funny lines regarding certain situations.Ratings: ***1/2 (out of 4) 95 points (out of 100) IMDb 9 (out of 10)

Julian Fellowes, the distinguished writer of "Godsford Park", presents us with another civilized tale of self contained emotions. This time however, the ingredients are somehow at odds with each other and the strange taste that left in my palate indicates that, perhaps, it was removed from the oven a little too soon. I longed for Joseph Losey at the helm and Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Miles and Alan Bates as the protagonists. Emily Watson is always marvelous but here, she doesn't have the kind of support she, as an actress or as a character, deserved and/or needed. Tom Wilkinson, as good as he is, doesn't have the layers of a Dirk Bogarde or James Mason. He is exactly what you get and Rupert Everett, who became a star overnight with Julian Mitchell's "Another Country" has taken a strange and puzzling road. His close ups are kind of frightening. His mouth has become the center of attention and not the kind of attention one would expect. It belongs to the villain in a horror movie. I noticed that already in his comedy with Madonna. I know, perhaps, all this sounds irrelevant but it conditioned my response to "Separate Lies" I wanted to be riveted and I wasn't.