Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Lies And Deceit’ on Netflix, A Spanish Remake Of A Brit Thriller About Attraction And Dishonesty

It’s simply titled Mentiras (“Lies”) in its original Spanish, which is much closer to Liar, the title of the 2017 British series that Lies & Deceit (Netflix) is based on. Liar featured Joanne Froggat (Downton Abbey) and Ioan Gruffudd; here, it’s Angela Cremonte and Javier Rey as two professionals at odds over what really went down on the night of their first date.

LIES AND DECEIT: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: The Mediterranean, tide lapping. A woman is traversing her sea kayak along the rocky shore of the Balearic Island of Mallorca.

The Gist: Her morning workout complete, Laura (Angela Cremonte) returns to her sunny bayside home, where Ivan (Miquel Fernandez) is packing up his last box. They’ve split up after 13 years together, and it’s awkward but amicable. Xavier (Javier Rey), meanwhile, is driving his son Lucas to the high school where Laura is Lucas’s literature teacher. She and Xavier have flirted before, and today he takes the plunge. “It’s probably a little early, but if you’d like a drink sometime, I’d be delighted. No strings attached.” Laura’s excited. Javier’s excited. And Cata (Manuela Velasco) is overjoyed. She’s Laura’s sister, and a nurse at the hospital where Xavier is a surgeon. Go and have fun, she says, and Laura is full of butterflies. “Cata, it’s been half my life since I dated anyone that wasn’t Ivan.”

Laura and Xavier meet at a restaurant, they share greetings and laughter. But suddenly it’s the next morning, and Laura awakens in her bed, groggy and disoriented. At Xavier’s, he greets his son, all smiles, and later texts Laura. “Thanks for an unforgettable night.” He even tells his buddy how much he wants to see her again. OK, but how come Laura is in the staff restroom fighting off waves of nausea and trying to piece the night together?

Laura, distraught, visits Cata. She admits there was wine involved, but that’s not it. “I think I told him to stop,” she says. “It’s like it all happened to someone else.” And in flashbacks, we see more of the evening. Xavier walking her home. Xavier waiting for a cab inside. Xavier opening another bottle of wine.

Laura and Cata go to the clinic for her forensic examination, and she makes a statement to the police, who haul Xavier out of surgery for questioning. He’s incredulous, scared. “She kissed me. No, I didn’t push her. We were hugging. If I had thought she didn’t want to, nothing would’ve happened.” With Xavier’s version of the night differing from Laura’s, and without any physical evidence – Laura’s examination was free of violence, and she tested negative for drugs – the police can’t make any arrests. Their hands are tied, but Laura’s aren’t. Still upset, and now feeling more like the accused than the victim, she turns to social media with the story of what she says Xavier did to her.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Neither Angela Cremonte nor Javier Rey are strangers to Netflix. Cremonte played Elisa Cifuentes on Cable Girls for its five season run on the streamer, and co-stars in the recent fantasy-thriller Feria: The Darkest Light. Rey starred in the period crime drama Hache, as well as Cocaine Coast.

Our Take: Lies & Deceit is an awkward re-titling, but it’s not necessarily wrong. In the early going, it’s still unclear who’s doing the lying, but it’s definitely there, unplaceable, just like the memories of the evening that Laura can’t quite fit together. And what of deceit? Well, remember Cata’s joy over Xavier asking Laura out? Let’s just say that she isn’t just Xavier’s skilled nurse or her sister’s shoulder to cry on. It’s only the first episode. But Lies & Deceit is already proving that Laura and Xavier aren’t the only ones who will suffer the ramifications of their night together.

Part of the reason for that is proximity. Laura is Xavier’s son’s teacher; Cata and Xavier work together. It’s going to be difficult for anyone to hide in such close social quarters. There’s a great scene late in the first episode where Xavier suddenly appears in Laura’s empty classroom. Is he just a concerned parent? Of course not, but he could be. He apologizes for what he calls the “misunderstanding,” and for anything that she “thinks” might have happened between them. Her eyes red rimmed, her arms trembling, she feels threatened, humiliated, and confused all at once, and later tells Ivan that incredibly, she even almost believed Xavier. She’s full of doubt, full of anger, full of shame – and there’s an apologetic plead to Xavier, even if arrogance is still his primary personality trait. It will be interesting to watch as Lies & Deceit unspools its story, of what happened, when, how, and most important, who did what to whom.

Sex and Skin: None here, only the bitter after-image of a night gone wrong.

Parting Shot: Laura’s social media post naming Xavier as her attacker has gone live. “Before I posted this about Xavier,” Laura tells Cata, “not one of his work colleagues, family or friends knew this about him.” She’s defiant. “Now they know.”

Sleeper Star: Manuela Velasco, who previously co-starred with Javier Rey in the 1950’s fashion house drama Velvet, is terrific here as Cata. She’s the older sister with a seemingly perfect home life, and offers plenty of support for Laura, but there’s more than a tingle of her own secrets.

Most Pilot-y Line: “He came to see me at school to clear everything up,” Laura tells Ivan. “I was alone in my classroom. He walked into my classroom, he stood in front of me, he looked in my eyes, and for just one second, he was so convincing that he almost made me doubt myself.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. As a remake of the British thriller Liar, Lies & Deceit has plenty of secrets and twisty chances for vengeance to work with. Who’s telling the truth about that fateful night? It’ll be fun to watch and find out.

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges