Brilliant Lies (1996)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Audio Commentary-Richard Franklin (Director) Interviews-Cast & Crew Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Shooting Brilliant Lies Theatrical Trailer Music Video-Brilliant Lies by Kate Ceberano Short Film-Redreaming The Dream
Rating
Year Of Production	1996
Running Time	90:00 (Case: 94)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (64:18)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Richard Franklin
Studio Distributor	Bayside Pictures Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Gia Carides Anthony LaPaglia Zoe Carides Ray Barrett Michael Veitch Catherine Wilkin Neil Melville Jennifer Jarman-Walker Grant Tilly Beverley Dunn Brad Lindsay Barry Friedlander Iain Murton
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$14.95	Music	Nerida Tyson-Chew

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Based on David Williamson's play of the same name, Brilliant Lies stars real life husband and wife Anthony La Paglia and Gia Carides (though this film was made in 1996 and the two married in 1998) as the two protagonists in a bitter case of workplace sexual harassment.

    The fun loving and slightly wild Susy (Gia Carides) is sacked from her job at an insurance company because of a poor work ethic and falling asleep at her desk. At least that is the reason that her manager Gary Fitzgerald (La Paglia) and his boss Vince (Neil Melville) claim when Susy takes her story of harassment to the mediation hearing called to sort out the claims. Susy says Gary made several advances on her during her seven month stint with the company, culminating in lewd phone calls and having him fondle her in the office. Gary of course denies everything, but according to Neil he does have a history of not treating the females in the office with much respect and so the story could hold some element of truth.

    Susy ropes in her sister Katy (Carides' real sister Zoe Carides) to back up her story of the months of abuse she endured, despite the fact that Zoe was oblivious to it all. Katy, ever the good sister, goes along with the ruse. At least at first anyway, but she has her own problems about sexual abuse.

    As the case heads towards a public tribunal hearing, working out just who is telling the truth and who is telling a pack of brilliant lies is the challenge the viewer will face. With neither of the main characters displaying a particularly likable demeanour, Susy's story could be a complete fabrication or it could be the complete truth. It could also just as well fall somewhere in the middle. Gary is no Prince Charming, but then Susy is no Cinderella either.

    Throw in a sub plot involving the sister's father (Ray Barrett) and a brother who just can't seem to please anyone (Michael Veitch) and this is does become a slightly top-heavy film that is at times a little clumsy in its delivery of the story. Its stage origins are betrayed several times, with a play style delivery to many of the lines and set pieces.

Video

    The transfer is presented in the close-to-original theatrical aspect of 1.78:1 and features 16x9 enhancement.

    The transfer is sharp enough without any trace of edge enhancement. Shadow detail is also excellent with deep blacks and no loss of clarity in any of the darker scenes. There is no low level noise.

    Colours aren't exactly bright, but they are well rendered and present no problems in terms of bleeding or oversaturation.

    There are no compression artefacts present, though the number of film artefacts is a little disappointing. They are numerous throughout, with some being bordering on what would be considered a large size.

    There is just one subtitle stream present, this being English for the Hearing Impaired. They are accurate and very easy to read.

    Despite the short running time of just 90 minutes, this disc is dual layered and comes with RSDL formatting. The layer change is at 64:18.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are two audio tracks on the disc. There is a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack for the film, plus a Dolby Digital 2.0 commentary track. Both are presented in English.

    Despite this only being a stereo 2.0 mix, it is a surprisingly decent soundtrack. Dynamic range is excellent with plenty of decent bass evident. Stereo separation is present in many scenes, and the dialogue is consistently clear if a little soft at times. There are no audio sync issues.

    The score is fairly nondescript, while there is no surround channel or subwoofer use.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Audio Commentary

    A commentary from director Richard Franklin recorded in December 2004. Chock full of memories and stories of the filming, the play's adaptation, and various technical aspects. Worth a listen for fans of the film.

Interviews-Cast & Crew

    Interviews with all the cast and crew (including original writer David Williamson) where the question is displayed as text on the screen before the interviewee answers it. These interviews include - Gia Carides (7:17), Anthony La Paglia (4:43), Zoe Carides (3:16), David Williamson (4:08), director Richard Franklin (4:58), Catherine Wilkin (2:02), Ray Barrett (1:36), and Michael Veitch (4:57).

Featurette-Behind The Scenes

    Running for 3:53 this is just a bunch of behind-the-scenes footage of the actual filming with no voice-over or additional interview material.

Theatrical Trailer

    A slightly corny trailer that makes the film appear to be much more dramatic and mysterious than it really is. Running time is 2:02.

Music Video

    Kate Cebrano's video for the song Brilliant Lies. Runs for 3:48.

Short Film - Redreaming the Dark

    Also made in 1996 this is a short film from the Australian Film Television and Radio school. Redreaming The Dark is directed by Erica Glynn and runs for 6:02. It's the short story of the struggle an Aboriginal mother faces dealing with her disabled daughter.

      This title has not been released in Region 1.

    Brilliant Lies is a film based on the stage play by Australia's greatest playwright David Williamson. Gia Carides and Anthony LaPaglia star as the boss and his worker fighting out a sexual harassment charge, with a few family problems thrown in for good measure.

    The video is not startling, but is mostly clean and sharp, aside from a handful of largish film artefacts.

    The audio is actually quite good for a simple two channel stereo mix. It is without major fault.

    The extras are interesting and not a bad effort for a low-budget Australian film made in 1996.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall