Lies review

Y (Yeon) is a schoolgirl who surrenders her virginity to a 38-year-old married sculptor J (Hyun) in a hotel room. The two embark on a sado-masochistic relationship: sticks, whips, planks and tubing are regularly used in their love-making, which even incorporates coprophilia. Step by step, the duo retreat from the rest of society.

Unsurprisingly, this undeniably explicit account of sexual obsession has been banned in Korea. Shots of the cast discussing their scenes remind us that this is fiction, and yet the gusto with which the actors approach their roles leaves you wondering how much of the `action' was actually simulated.

Overlong and slightly repetitive, the claustrophobic Lies would perhaps have benefited from developing its subsidiary characters. Nevertheless, director Jang Sun Woo includes some amusing moments, not least a wood-gathering expedition and Y's farewell present to J of a formidable hoe stick.