Only those with a stomach for nonstop anxiety should watch White Lie
A college kid fakes a cancer diagnosis in this riveting, deliberately opaque character study
Film Lists White Lie
Watch This offers movie recommendations inspired by new releases, premieres, current events, or occasionally just our inscrutable whims. This week: One more time, we’re accounting for our sins of omission and looking back on the best movies of 2021 we didn’t review.
White Lie (2019)
White Lie opens with its ostensibly minor falsehood already in progress. Katie (Kacey Rohl), a Canadian college student claiming to be fighting cancer, is first seen shaving her head to simulate having undergone chemotherapy. Her girlfriend, Jennifer (Amber Anderson), accepts this story without suspicion. So do Katie’s professors and hundreds of well-wishers who contribute to various GoFundMe accounts that she’s set up to bilk people. This isn’t simply a portrait of a scam artist, however. At one point, we learn that Katie’s raked in about $24,000, but that sum hardly seems worth the sheer panic that consumes her at virtually all times. Whatever her original motivation for launching this charade—and that’s never revealed—it’s clear that she’s become its prisoner, unable to pull the plug for fear of the consequences and barely capable of keeping it from short-circuiting.
Twenty years ago, the French drama Time Out explored similar terrain, following a laid-off businessman who, for reasons deliberately left murky, nearly killed himself sustaining the fiction that he was still gainfully employed. Whether or not White Lie’s writer-directors Calvin Thomas and Yonah Lewis were directly influenced by that film, they’ve made a perfect companion piece, albeit one with a much more jittery, frantic tone. Rohl plays Katie like a shark that must remain in near-constant motion, while simultaneously suggesting the fear of being devoured should she make the slightest misstep. Her litany of tasks include bribing doctors to provide her with faked medical records, getting the payoff money from Jennifer in a form that she can actually use (without provoking suspicion), and fending off her father (Martin Donovan), who knows her too well to buy her bullshit yet again and decides that public exposure via social media is the tough-love help that she truly needs.
As in Time Out, it’s at once riveting and maddening to watch somebody self-destruct from a measured distance, privy to their every desperate move but forever uncertain about what’s going on within their fevered brain. Rohl does a superb job of embodying the habitual liar’s shortsighted fixation on just somehow making it through the current crisis, ignoring how many future difficulties the solution is likely to entail. When one such postponed nightmare finally, inevitably catches up with her, she literally stops at the doorway to certain culpability, announces “I don’t need to be here,” and walks away. Her refusal to take any of the numerous off-ramps that others laboriously construct for her throughout implies deep psychological anguish that the film respectfully declines to spell out. Jennifer clearly loves Katie to death and would likely have helped her out of this mess, had she merely confessed and begged forgiveness. Instead, Jennifer becomes the Damoclean sword that Katie dreads most.
The feature’s called Watch This, but White Lie requires a caveat: Don’t watch this if there’s only so much anxiety-by-proxy you can stomach in one sitting. The film consists entirely of its protagonist saying and doing things that make you wince, grimace, fight the impulse to shout “Bad idea!” at the screen. It’s 96 minutes of watching someone keep frantically digging a hole she’s currently standing in, even as toxic sewage water floods in to replace every shovelful of earth. Nor is there ever a cathartic moment of reckoning, or any explanation of the pathology on constant display. For better and worse—with a decided lean toward better—Thomas and Lewis commit to impassive observation, allowing Katie’s actions to speak for themselves. By the end, you won’t necessarily understand her, but you’ll have experienced one helluva hellride.
Availability: White Lie is currently streaming on Tubi with ad breaks. It’s also available to rent or purchase digitally.
41 Comments
Character shaves her head to simulate chemotherapy. Keeps luscious eyebrows. Not even a little loss to help facilitate the lie.-Continuity errors that kill the movie for you(me).
Same. All my loved ones who went through chemo lost their eyebrows and eyelashes. TBH, I never see that in media portrayals of chemo.
This does not seem fun but I do love Kacey Rohl. She was great on the one case of the week episode of iZombie where the perpetrator got away with the crime (murdering her mom for money so she could go to art school) because she was so adorably manipulative that she got her bf to take the fall for her.
She was also amazing on Hannibal.
I am still extremely upset about literally everything that happened to poor Abigail on Hannibal
after 2 years and counting of dealing with pandemic-induced anxiety, sure, let’s heap another 96 minutes on top of that. Nah, I’ll stick with my Archer reruns, thanks.
Have you seen the Xtacles?
I have not, should I have? I am always looking for mindless fun TV content.
Yeah, if you like Archer, check it out!https://www.adultswim.com/search?q=xtaclesIt’s not much of an investment; it’s just two 11 minutes episodes of an abandoned series from Matt Thompson and Adam Reed, that came in between Frisky Dingo and Archer. But my wife and I love the hell out of it!
you had me at “11 minute episodes”. Thanks for the heads-up.
I was just wondering about that headline… I’ve had an anxiety disorder for as long as I can remember and technically speaking, that means that I definitely have the stomach for nonstop anxiety, seeing that I’m still alive and my stomach is doing fine.But a narrative like this on top of all that? I don’t think so. That headline kinda sorta contradicts itself, if you look at it from that angle.
LOL yeah I see your point; if you have constant anxiety in your life, I guess they assume *this* anxiety is comparable to what’s already happening in your life, so go ahead and watch it. In my case, I have pumped the brakes hard on social media because when I look at FB within seconds I feel my BP and anxiety and anger rising, so why do that to myself? It’s addictive masochism. More Archer and Tosh.0, please.
That’s interesting, Archer is definitely something that I would personally avoid. It’s just so cynical and I don’t like any of the characters. And that is coming from a guy whose favorite Better Call Saul character is Chuck. But Archer makes me very anxious indeed (more than usual). It’s just so mean with very little to balance it out. At least that’s my experience with it.
I do love horror movies though. I’m doing great with suspense in crime or thriller movies as well. Those actually provide me with a therapeutic experience, where there’s something more or less concrete to feel anxious about.
that’s funny about Better Call Saul because I tried to binge watch Breaking Bad but the shows were so nerve-wracking to watch I had to waive off after a while. Same with Yellowjackets, which had such a great pilot but then you know it’s going to be despair and suffering and conflict for 19 months for a bunch of young kids in the woods, no thanks. Archer is a definitely an acquired taste but I love the hilarious wordplay; that small nugget of love beneath all the cynicism; its extreme raunchiness and violence; and the way they occasionally inject interesting trivia into the dialogue (if not for Archer I would never have learned about 16th century female pirate Grace O’Malley).
I’m honestly fascinated by the difference in reaction people with similar afflictions can have to things. What it goes to show for me is that we’re still our own people, individuals with different tastes and sensibilities (and of course different triggers). Which is a rather wholesome thought, wouldn’t you agree?
absolutely yes! I am a neuroscience guy and I think about how amazingly complex our brains are with all the neurons and synapses and glia forming all these amazing and new and weird connections, and how that affects our behaviors, and for better or worse it’s one of the most incredible things about our species.
Just on this– there will never, ever come a day where all the neuroscientists in the world sit back and say “well, we’ve solved that, we’re done.”
oh HELL no. Just look at how relatively little progress has been made understanding and treating schizophrenia. Basically all they can do is drug them. Same with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s disease. Progress has been made but nowhere near a cure. At least it’s better than the days of lobotomies and trephining.
Yup. That’s why I’ve stopped thinking about books, movies, TV etc. in terms of good or bad. I might be able to describe what I don’t like about something, but that is still completely subjective. Someone else might feel the complete opposite.And honestly, I think that’s beautiful. Those are just different things our brains are capable of, liking and enjoying certain works of art that others might not. And I often find myself admiring someone else’s genuine enjoyment of something that I myself don’t enjoy at all.
this can’t have enough stars!!!!
I finally got around to Uncut Gems and Good Time a few months ago and haven’t yet fully recharged my capacity for absorbing more anxiety. Pass.
The key to watching Uncut Gems, at least for me, is to start off the movie hoping for Adam Sandler to die.
If I’d seen Good Time before Uncut Gems I would probably have had a more realistic expectation of how the latter would end. Gamblers and small time criminals are usually not very bright and have impulse control problems. Those are not characteristics that lead to long-term happy endings. Sandler in no way deserved to win that parlay, pay off his debts, and settle back in with a way-out-of-his-league girlfriend who should have dumped his ass long ago. Pattinson in GT should have watched Point Break before attempting his bank robbery. He had the money from the counter, don’t push your luck. Both films got it right but jesus the anxiety along the way.
that’s how you get ants.
or a nervous breakdown. BTW my all-time favorite Archer quote is when Mallory’s talking about how stupid it would be to send Ray to the Vatican because “those priests would peg him…HA!” and then she cracks up because she realizes what she’s saying. At its peak (seasons 1-5 or thereabouts) there weren’t many other shows with better writing than Archer.
Hey, Archer mate! I’m currently in season 8. What started as a rewatch has transitioned to mere watch, because I originally fell off after season 7. I’m digging Dreamland quite a bit.
hey! glad you like the “Dreamland” shows; I did not. They seem more like good animated drama with occasionally funny bits thrown in, not the genius comedy seasons 1-6 were. Very disappointing but the last 2 seasons have shown fitful signs of life (although it’s a damn shame both Reed and Ray have pretty much disappeared from both).
I think I’m in the perfect head space for Dreamland: bed-ridden, recovering from surgery. 🙂
oh wow! Hope everything is OK! yes, in that case I can’t think of a better time-waster than the last few seasons of Archer. Like I said, they’re good if you’re not like me expecting genius-level comedy and instead are content to settle for a good drama with the occasional chuckle.
Thanks! Had a bone spur removed from the joint in my big toe. 🙂 Nothing too serious.Honestly, that’s exactly what I’m needing: just a low-key adventure with some chuckles. Nothing too revelatory.
I miss both Hannibal and The Magicians, glad to see she is getting bigger opportunities
There’s a limit to how big anything can be in Canada. I mean, the country itself is large, but you know what I mean.I thought her arc in Hannibal was quite good, though her season 3 material added little of value (which was in keeping with the rest of that season).
“Bigger” is the lead in a movie, a respectable one with Martin Donovan
Another one who’s glad to see Rohl get more opportunity. She was such a bright spot in Hannibal.
Uht! Uht! No.
I had very peripheral involvement in the care of someone who faked a breast cancer diagnosis. Her motivation eventually became crystal clear- drugs.
If I’ve learned anything, it’s that you should never, ever trust Kacey Rohl.
At first, I thought the headline said “Only those with severe anxiety should watch White Lie”, and I thought, “Finally, someone has made a movie for me!”.
“Nonstop anxiety”? Well my life has prepared me well for that. I’m in!
FWIW, I found this one much easier to watch than Uncut Gems!
Not sure there’s a more underrtaed actor in the world than Martin Donovan. Always great, often gets typecast as a haggard government man in action films, but he’s never not watchable in anything and gives a delightfully intense performance.