“The truth is at the bottom of a well: you look into a well and see the sun or the moon; but if she throws herself down there is no more sun and moon, there is the truth. ” Leonardo Sciascia, The day of the owl. This quote from the well-known Sicilian writer is perfectly suited to briefly describe the plot of this new legal thriller that has just been released in Italian theaters (it was released in the USA last year).
The rich line of films set in courtrooms never runs out and, for fans of the subject, they often do not disappoint. This "A double truth" also keeps what it promises: 90 minutes of discrete tension in search of a truth other than what appears. The main protagonists, Keanu Reeves as the lawyer, and Renée Zellweger as the desperate mother, handle the part well enough (apart from the incomprehensible tearless weeping of hers during an intense interrogation) and manage without infamy and without glory.
The film revolves around the murder of a violent, vulgar and brutal father and husband of which the son accuses himself, who does not open his mouth on the matter before the investigators and the judges. A first truth is presented to us in a simple and flat manner and the evidence against him leaves no doubt as to his guilt. But, in fact, there could be an alternative reading of the dramatic events that led to the man's murder and only in the final bars will the good one be discovered.
With a similar title, "The Two Truths" a famous thriller by Agatha Christie was published in 1957 and even in that plot the doubt was proposed as to who was the real perpetrator of the crime. Subsequently, in 1999, the film by Paul Schrader appeared in cinemas with the same title. The title appears slightly abused and it is not clear why the translation of the original title "The whole truth" was not used, which would have made better sense in understanding the story.
Like all films of this genre, it is always expected that the proven truth, juridically and cinematically, impeccable is manifested in front of the judges and, on the basis of what has been demonstrated, the sentence is issued "beyond any reasonable doubt". In this case, the closure leaves some perplexity and many questions remain unsolved but, overall, in the middle of the summer season, it is a cinematographic proposal that is worth accepting.
A joke should be remembered: "... all the witnesses lie..." which brings us back, dramatically, to a very topical issue on the spread of lies, on the concealment of the truth, as a formidable instrument for annihilating mass morality. It is worth mentioning a director who knew something about truth and falsehood, Orson Welles, with his 1973 "F for False". The subject is important and deserves to be explored, even in the cinema.
