“I’m Bob, I work for Coke, and I’m asking you to not stop buying Coke. That’s all. It’s a bit sweet. Thank you.”
Ricky Gervais The Invention of Lying is set in an alternative world where ‘Lying’ does not exist. Not only that, in this world people express every thought, unfiltered. They get mean most of the time, but that’s how people in this world are brought up. This comedy fiction delves deeper into the psychology of lying and dwells between whether the act of telling the truth is a question of morality or a question of civilisation.
The Invention of Lying also perceives the ability to lie as a power and shows how humans misuse it if they get such power. The film acknowledges the human psychology behind lying and its impact on the liar while also exemplifying how truths and lies have to be balanced to maintain a decent social life. Truth alone can make us dull, shallow and deprive us of any form of art while a lie, on the other hand, can give hope. In this film review, we will analyse the fading moral obligation of honesty, the fallout of a small lie and how the film conveys its idea through simulation.
No Deceit, or Flattery, or Fiction
The film starts with Mark Bellison going on his first date with Anna McDoogles, which isn’t a successful one because Mark is neither handsome nor rich according to Anna’s standards. Mark is an unappreciated screenwriter in a film industry that makes historical films. He gets fired because his films are uninteresting. Furthermore, his landlord pressurises him to pay his rent or leave the place or else he will evict him.
Being what Anna would call a total loser, Mark goes to the bank to withdraw the last $300 and close his account, though he needed $800 for the rent. At the counter, the teller asks him how much he wishes to withdraw, and after a moment’s pause, he says $800. The woman says that the account reflects a balance of $300, but then she believes Mark and says, “Our system has made a mistake.”
And at that point, deep in his brain cells, Mark unlocks the ability to tell something fictitious that people would believe despite other evidence. He also realises that this new ability can solve most of his problems related to money, career and women. While it did not work so well with women, it did help him bounce back from his broken life, pay off the rent, have a few pints of beers, win at the casino and take his career to a whole new level. He further used his new ability to make his life better by telling completely absurd stories about a chest under the earth, a place after death and the man in the sky – all which screw up together and make a knot of a life for Mark.
Psychological Indentation of Lying
The discussion on Lies looks inconsequential because, despite being immoral, it has become an indispensable part of our social lives. The ubiquity of lying seems unstirred by its moral obligations. According to False Allegations: Investigative and Forensic Issues in Fraudulent Reports of Crime, lying is constructed through four ways – Complete Deception, Half-Truths, Exaggerations, and Pertinent Omission said either for selfish reasons or to protect others; and our hero goes with complete deception to make, both, things favorable to himself and to help others. Only he didn’t know that to cover-up one lie, a series of unplanned and unwillful lies would have to follow.
Mark tells his dying mother about a beautiful place where people go after death, which has all the luxuries one can ask for. This news eventually goes to the media and then to the rest of the world. A ravaging crowd welcomes Mark home, seeking answers for their endless questions about the place after death, how does he know about it, what is wrong and right according to the place’s rules and so on.
Lying decreases self-esteem and increases negative emotion, irrespective of whether the lie benefits the self or others, says the British Journal of Social Psychology report. Hence, lying does leave a psychological indentation on the liar, even if it goes undetected. It creates a mental burden, a constant preoccupation, a disruption in the well-being of the liar. This burden, preoccupation and disruption is actualised through Mark spending the whole night constructing more lies to substantiate the one he initially spoke about, the place where people go after death and then the man in the sky.
Simulacra of Reality
The Invention of Lying is what Jean Baudrillard, a French philosopher and cultural theorist, argued in his theory is a Simulacra. A Simulacra is a self-sustaining alter-reality or a simulated reality which mirrors the original world but has no reference to it. Such a hypothetical reality is established in a work of fiction as a plot device to make a hypothetical or fantasy narrative possible, with a major agenda of making a point clear, not caring about the authenticity of the narrative.
The bridge between the real and the alternate world is the emotional connection that the audience shares with the characters. Director Ricky Gervais has successfully built a bridge between the viewers and Mark through emotions. Mark is a subject of pity owing to his incompetence on many levels, including his looks and financial status, until he unlocked his ability of lying.
A simulacra also makes the audience suspend their beliefs and belief in the simulated reality. In our context, the film makes us believe in the world of Mark. Despite knowing that lying is an inherent ability, we begin to see it as a unique power and look forward to exploring it with the main character. Cinema being the mirror of the world, explores the very innate characteristics and habits of human beings, like lying. Hyper-realism just makes those characteristics and habits, that are layered beneath its commonality, stand out.
Fiction doesn’t lead us closer to the facts. Fiction invents the facts. But in doing so, it can, at its best, lead us closer to the truth – Clare Allan’s Four Thought broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
The Hopeful Lie
Research by Chicago Booth’s Emma Levine says, “Unnecessary harm is a function of how much value the truth has in the long run, whether you can learn and grow from it, and how much emotional pain and suffering it will cost you.” It implies that if truth causes unnecessary harm, doesn’t add to growth, or causes suffering, then lying is justifiable. The Invention of Lying makes the same point. It makes us realise that being dishonest or hiding the truth is crucial for maintaining decency.
Lying is important for maintaining a cordial social life and emotional well-being. The film corroborates this point in many instances – Mark helping his friend from getting arrested for drunk and driving, helping his mother to have a peaceful departure, giving hope to Frank and the beggar about a better afterlife or encouraging Anna in the last scene where Mark and his son appreciates her dish though it is evident from their expressions that it is awful.
The Unnecessary Blatant Truth
“Oh, look, everyone. There is Mark Bellison, one of Lecture Films’ very own screenwriters. Mark is one of Lecture Films’ least successful screenwriters. I also hear he’s most likely getting fired today.”
The Invention of Lying, being a good narrative, fails to create a substantial premise. Pertinent omission is one thing, but saying everything that is going on in one’s mind is different; however, the film equates them. Furthermore, the concept of articulation is nonexistent, and even ads are bland, like the Coke advertisement saying, ‘It’s very famous’, or a Pepsi advertisement saying, ‘When they don’t have Coke’, which shows that this world is not only honest but unnecessarily blatant.
It also equates not lying with always-saying-the-negative, like the woman at the beginning of the film says, “Oh, your baby is so ugly. It’s like a little rat”, or the old age home which is called ‘A Sad place for hopeless old people.’ We all know that the truth is harsh, but it doesn’t have to be mean all the time.
The film is also oblivious about the fact that truth can be subjective, or of people misunderstanding or misremembering and communicating the misinformation which is not a deliberate lie but also not the truth. It also means that this world is devoid of allegories, idioms, poetry or any form of art. Additionally, being honest here also means that the people are chatty and are throwing constant remarks at Mark, who, on the other hand, seems to hold no opinion or remark about anybody at all.
Conclusion
The Invention of Lying also reminds us that people are naive, gullible; that the media awaits breaking news all the time; that the society needs someone to blame for whatever happens, like they blamed the man in the sky for whatever bad experiences they had, and that loads of money does not guarantee happiness. It also makes a comment on religion and blind faith.
The Invention of Lying leaves a sense of dissatisfaction, being a good narrative. It seems to overlook a few things that needed to be catered to. The end of the film also goes flat with a very predictable outcome of the romance and no outcome of the other events happening in the film. The film leaves many such instances unanswered but despite a mixed review, the film is a good watch on a slow day with a light mood.
