# The Lie (2018 film)
**The Lie** is a 2018 American drama-thriller written and directed by Veena Sud, in which two divorced parents cover up a supposed killing after their teenage daughter falsely claims to have killed Brittany, who is actually alive.[15](https://www.thisisbarry.com/film/the-lie-ending-explained-2018-movie/) It stars [Peter Sarsgaard](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-sarsgaard), Mireille Enos, and [Joey King](https://www.edgepedia.org/joey-king), and it is a remake of the 2015 German film *Wir Monster* (We Monsters).[1](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-lie) Filmed under the working title *Between Earth and Sky*, the film premiered at the [Toronto International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/toronto-international-film-festival) and reached audiences two years later as one of the launch titles of Amazon's Welcome to the Blumhouse anthology.[2](https://letterboxd.com/indiewire/film/the-lie-2018/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writer | Veena Sud, who wrote the adaptation[3](https://watch.afi.com/movie/the-lie) |
| Source | Remake based on the 2015 German film *Wir Monster* (We Monsters); original story by Sebastian Ko and Marcus Seibert[1](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-lie) • [3](https://watch.afi.com/movie/the-lie) |
| Main cast | Peter Sarsgaard as Jay, Mireille Enos as Rebecca, Joey King as daughter Kayla; supporting roles include Cas Anvar, Devery Jacobs, Patti Kim, and Nicholas Lea[4](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-lie/umc.cmc.16ncgvrfi2q1f0shl8s24n4px) |
| Festival premiere | Toronto International Film Festival, September 2018[5](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-veena-sud-the-lie-20180922-story.html) |
| Streaming release | October 6, 2020, on Amazon Prime Video, one of the four initial Welcome to the Blumhouse films[1](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-lie) • [6](https://mande.net/btl/featured/filmmakers-roundtable-welcome-blumhouse?amp=1) |
| Specifications | 97 minutes; rated R for language throughout, some violence, and brief sexuality; English language, United States[3](https://watch.afi.com/movie/the-lie) |
| Reception | 44% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (79 reviews) and 34% on the audience Popcornmeter (500+ ratings)[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_lie_2020) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and premise
The story begins with a father, Jay (Peter Sarsgaard), driving his daughter Kayla (Joey King) to a ballet retreat. They stop to offer a ride to Kayla's best friend Brittany ([Devery Jacobs](https://www.edgepedia.org/devery-jacobs)), and the two girls walk off together; shortly afterward, Kayla confesses to her parents that she impulsively pushed her friend off a bridge into icy rapids below.[1](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-lie) • [4](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-lie/umc.cmc.16ncgvrfi2q1f0shl8s24n4px) Her divorced parents, Jay and Rebecca ([Mireille Enos](https://www.edgepedia.org/mireille-enos)), respond by constructing a web of lies and deception to shield their daughter, drawing in detectives (Patti Kim as Detective Kenji Tagata and [Nicholas Lea](https://www.edgepedia.org/nicholas-lea) as Detective Rodney Barnes) and the victim's father Sam Ifrani (Cas Anvar).[4](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-lie/umc.cmc.16ncgvrfi2q1f0shl8s24n4px) The film ends with a twist that several critics treated as its defining feature.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_lie_2020)
## Production
**Adaptation.** Sud transplanted the German thriller *Wir Monster* to a snowy North American setting, and she described the project as drawing on aspects of her own life.[5](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-veena-sud-the-lie-20180922-story.html) She developed it with producer Alix Madigan, writing a draft in the window between television commitments.[8](https://www.scifinow.co.uk/interviews/welcome-to-the-blumhouse-the-lie/) The film was produced by Madigan, Jason Blum, and Christopher Tricarico, with Peter Wunstorf as cinematographer, Philip Fowler as editor, and an original score by Tamar-kali.[3](https://watch.afi.com/movie/the-lie)
**Visual approach.** Sud named the Swedish vampire film *Let the Right One In* as a major influence, particularly its winter setting. She aimed for a clean, sterile, white-on-white palette, using the Canadian winter so that anything contrasting with the snow stands out; the dead girl's pink jacket against a white snow bank plays the role that blood plays against snow in *Let the Right One In*.[9](https://nerdist.com/article/welcome-to-the-blumhouse-directors-horror-films/)
## Release
The film premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. IndieWire places it in the Galas section alongside *First Man*, *A Star Is Born*, and *Widows*, while another account lists a September 8, 2018 premiere in the Special Presentations program.[2](https://letterboxd.com/indiewire/film/the-lie-2018/) • [10](https://saturation.io/budgets/the-lie-2018) After the festival showing drew a lukewarm response, the film sat unreleased for about two years while Sud and Blum sought a distributor.[2](https://letterboxd.com/indiewire/film/the-lie-2018/) • [11](https://www.screamhorrormag.com/mireille-enos-talks-welcome-to-the-blumhouses-the-lie/) It then became one of the four launch titles of Welcome to the Blumhouse, an eight-film anthology collaboration between Amazon Studios and Blumhouse Television, streaming on Amazon Prime Video from October 6, 2020; the other three launch titles were *[Black Box](https://www.edgepedia.org/black-box-2020-film)*, *[Nocturne](https://www.edgepedia.org/nocturne-2020-film)*, and *Evil Eye*.[1](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-lie) • [6](https://mande.net/btl/featured/filmmakers-roundtable-welcome-blumhouse?amp=1) Unlike three of the anthology's films, which were shot back-to-back in New Orleans, *The Lie* had already premiered at TIFF before joining the package.[6](https://mande.net/btl/featured/filmmakers-roundtable-welcome-blumhouse?amp=1)
## Reception
Critical response was largely negative. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 44% Tomatometer from 79 reviews and a 34% Popcornmeter score from more than 500 audience ratings, with the site's critics consensus calling it "queasily compelling without ever truly coming together."[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_lie_2020) Kate Erbland of IndieWire gave it a D+ and called it a "master class in bad decision-making, improbable choices, and overwrought acting," while A.A. Dowd of The A.V. Club (C-) wrote that the twist ending was "too audaciously ridiculous to entirely resist."[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_lie_2020) Other critics were divided: Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter called it "honestly quite good," while Nick Allen of rogerebert.com gave it one and a half stars out of four and Owen Gleiberman of Variety praised Sud's domestic scenes while faulting the film's contrivances.[12](https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film464653.html)
Common Sense Media, reviewing it for families, rated it appropriate for ages 15 and up, citing violence, language, and a teen character's self-harm, and judged that the acting, cold winter mood, and pacing worked even as the twists strained believability.[1](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-lie) The film received a 2018 ReFrame Stamp in the Feature category, an industry mark for gender-balanced production.[13](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7945440/awards/)
## Context in Sud's career
*The Lie* was Sud's second feature film, and it reunited her with Enos and Sarsgaard from the television series *The Killing*, which Enos described as a reunion.[2](https://letterboxd.com/indiewire/film/the-lie-2018/) • [11](https://www.screamhorrormag.com/mireille-enos-talks-welcome-to-the-blumhouses-the-lie/) Enos said the film focuses less on the lie itself than on the drastic effects a highly toxic relationship has on a family.[11](https://www.screamhorrormag.com/mireille-enos-talks-welcome-to-the-blumhouses-the-lie/)
A 2018 true-crime documentary of the same title, directed by Helena Coan about the murder of Grace Millane, is an unrelated film.[14](https://rialtodistribution.com/film/the-lie/)
## References
1. [The Lie - Parents' Guide & Movie Review | Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-lie)
2. [The Lie review by IndieWire (Kate Erbland), Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/indiewire/film/the-lie-2018/)
3. [The Lie, American Film Institute](https://watch.afi.com/movie/the-lie)
4. [The Lie, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-lie/umc.cmc.16ncgvrfi2q1f0shl8s24n4px)
5. [Veena Sud's 'The Lie' explores the lengths to which desperate parents will go, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-veena-sud-the-lie-20180922-story.html)
6. [Filmmaker Roundtable with the Directors of Welcome to the Blumhouse, Media and Entertainment](https://mande.net/btl/featured/filmmakers-roundtable-welcome-blumhouse?amp=1)
7. [The Lie, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_lie_2020)
8. [Welcome To The Blumhouse: The Lie, SciFiNow](https://www.scifinow.co.uk/interviews/welcome-to-the-blumhouse-the-lie/)
9. [Welcome to the Blumhouse Directors Share Influential Horror Films, Nerdist](https://nerdist.com/article/welcome-to-the-blumhouse-directors-horror-films/)
10. [The Lie (2018) budget, Saturation.io](https://saturation.io/budgets/the-lie-2018)
11. [Mireille Enos Talks Welcome to the Blumhouse's "The Lie", Scream Horror Magazine](https://www.screamhorrormag.com/mireille-enos-talks-welcome-to-the-blumhouses-the-lie/)
12. [The Lie (2018), FilmAffinity critics' reviews](https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film464653.html)
13. [The Lie (2018) awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7945440/awards/)
14. [The Lie, Rialto Distribution](https://rialtodistribution.com/film/the-lie/)
15. [The Lie Ending Explained (2018 Movie) - Why did she lie?, This is Barry](https://www.thisisbarry.com/film/the-lie-ending-explained-2018-movie/)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Franchise and series entries as standalone works › Horror and slasher series film entries*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license