228.True Things; movie review

 

TRUE THINGS

Cert 15

102 mins

BBFC advice: Contains very strong language, strong sex, drug misuse

A young woman who is bored of her job in a benefit agency falls for a client who has just been released from prison.

The premise of Harry Wootliff's film conjures my memories of reporting on a very high-profile murder trial many years ago and discovering that the defendant had been having an affair with his solicitor.

This is on a lower scale but has a similar theme.

The problem with True Things was that it fails to explain why its central character, Kate (Ruth Wilson )is so desperate for love.

Kate loathes her job and is so consistently late or absent that she faces the sack.

Anyway, without very much encouragement at all she agrees to see a client (Tom Burke) for lunch and almost immediately they are having rumpy-pumpy in a car park.

The simple fact that he has paid her any attention sparks an obsession. But far from returning her love at first jump, he is casual with her to the point of exploitation.

Nevertheless, as the film progresses, she simply fails to see that there can be no future with the man who continuously lets her down.

Meanwhile, she jeopardises her job and even relationships with her best friend and her parents.

I think that Wootliff is trying to show that lonely people will hang on to even the slimmest morsel of what they perceive as love.

Or maybe he is attempting to show the audience how the need for sex can end up wrecking lives in the same way as alcohol or gambling.

Unfortunately, Kate is such a shallow character that I was past caring long before the end of True Things.

That's a pity because Wilson gives it her best shot with very limited material.

Reasons to watch: Ruth Wilson gives it her best shot

Reasons to avoid: Very slow

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: Yes

Nudity: Yes

Overall rating: 4/10

Did you know? Some 7.3 million of British people take antidepressants, equivalent to 17% of the adult population, according to Public Health England.

The final word.  Harry Wootliff: "Women are usually boxed in, there are still these pressures where we should be leading a life where we are not single, where we have children. At the moment I’m researching for a period film and, historically, a woman over 40 who wasn’t married had to become a nun! We’re not like that now, although you still feel like you’re not fitting in and I find that quite astounding. I wanted to dispel those myths." BFI

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