Of Love and Lies

Of Love and Lies (Fourmi, 2019) is a French-Belgian family drama you can watch online on iFILM. Twelve-year-old Theo has real football talent; his father, played by François Damiens, has been sliding since the divorce and the drinking. Theo watches him come apart and doesn't know how to stop it.

A British club sends a scout. Theo doesn't make the cut. He can't bring himself to say so — so he tells his dad he did. The father, who had been going nowhere for years, suddenly finds a reason to get up early and train alongside his kid. The lie does what the truth couldn't. Until it spirals.

Julien Rappeneau's debut feature — he's the son of Jean-Paul Rappeneau of Cyrano de Bergerac fame — is less about deception than about the specific kind of love that makes a child carry an adult's broken hopes. Warm, and sneaky-funny in the right moments. Stream Of Love and Lies (2019) online on iFILM.