Lying is something we subconsciously engage in. We use our lies to weasel out of uncomfortable situations, to place ourselves in more favourable positions and even fabricate events to mask our desires or intentions. But, why do we lie rather than present the blatant truth? Our reasons could be laughably remote, or yet another step in gratifying our intentions.
Lies are often labelled as common mistakes or conscious decisions. This is true, but seldom do we track our need to lie. It could spiral out of control, becoming compulsive or habitual. It is known that no social interaction could be devoid of lies, but we ride on a fine line. A line that separates lying from being natural to becoming habitual, transcending our normal consciousness, fortifying the absolute need to lie, when the underlying reasons could range from being non- existent or malicious.
The life of a common man, who lies to his wife, superior or colleague, begins and ends on the safer side of that line. His needs are trivial and remain the same till his death. But, not always does one dwell on one side. Over the course of life, lying does become compulsive, with an unmitigated need to lie in every situation, placing individual desires over and above societal welfare. This gives birth to compulsive liars whose relationship with lying is akin to fish and water.
There could be a plethora of reasons behind how one could become a compulsive liar. It could either arise from past experiences or from an insatiable need for admiration and glory. But, my purpose here is to not engage in the endless social or scientific causes that may exist. I’m going to spend my time in explaining how writers create pathological liars in their scripts, and how their lies are made believable by actors, and how directors present them to the audience. The plausibility of my explanation, as always, resides in your final judgement.
Verbal Kint :
“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”
The crown to Christopher McQuarrie’s career was when he bagged an academy award back in 96 for The Usual Suspects. Most of the plaudits that came his way quoted the skill and wit that McQuarrie put into creating Verbal Kint. Verbal, a two-bit con artist caught in a hugely interconnected heist that goes awry, finds himself within the confines of Agent Kujan’s office in New York. Portrayed by Kevin Spacey, the narrative is woven through a series of flashbacks and engaging conversations between Kujan and Verbal.
A pathological liar, Verbal creates or stages an entire series of events that never happened. But, the real question however here is how McQuarrie created a character that was completely believable by both Kujan and the audience alike? Let’s take down instances and break them down, so that we can piece together every lie said by Verbal that was born from thin air.
Cut into Kujan’s office. We’ve got Verbal flustering to light a cigarette, chomping on one end, with Kujan helping him out. Before this scene, it is clearly stated that Verbal’s story checks out, he has the pin of total immunity, and is free to walk out of the precinct given his cooperation. But Kujan suspects that Verbal may be concealing something, details that could piece together the jigsaw that the heist has left behind. Kujan is like all of us. He watches Verbal, a cripple so naive, yet cloistered. He is absolutely sure that there is something that would fit the puzzle, and everything would fall into place.
Verbal, in fact, is the piece to completing the jigsaw. But not the jigsaw that has been created by the heist. He is the piece that aims to consummate our jigsaw to feel complete. To stop and ponder, all the lies we fabricate and use in our social interactions, is to gratify the needs of the other person, and to some extent, our own needs as well. Our lies, consciously or subconsciously, sift through our mind before they are chosen to be words. We choose the lie that suits our standing in a social conversation. The lie that serves our needs and wants.
Back to the scene, Verbal crafts a story that sketches the events of that night, and fabricates the existence of a lawyer, Kobayashi that hitherto hasn’t been mentioned in Verbal’s testament to the D.A. This is the first major lie that Verbal uses in his escape, or rather his first step to become Keyzer Soze again, before vanishing forever. Piqued by the new evidence that he has heard, Kujan is now starting to believe Verbal’s lies, because that is what he wants to hear. The existence of the smallest possibility that could prove his theory, that something exists beyond what is on his platter, slowly blinds his eyes.
Let’s pause for a moment. Just like Kujan, we too expect the same in our everyday conversations. We tend to prefer our version, and when we sniff the smallest possibility of its existence, we are quick to jump to conclusions. While watching the film, we too believe the existence of further drama, and our need for contradictions and conflicts to keep us engaged, lead us to believe that Kujan’s theory could be right, until the final reveal. That is why lying has become habitual, and necessary for our survival. It is the way to cloak our own intentions, or satisfy the needs of others, helping us continue our social relationships from which we stand to gain something. Verbal realizes that Kujan, unlike other officers, believes the existence of something beyond his story, and fabricates further details that would fit Kujan’s theory. McQuarrie creates Kujan as a foil, one whose naïve nature exists in varying degrees within us, where we always try to gain from our social interactions, leaping to conclusions given the slightest possibility of their existence.
In the final and third act of the film, Kujan places his theory about Keaton being Keyzer Soze. Verbal begins a string of contradictions, refusing to believe Kujan. This is where McQuarrie utilizes the potential of his character. Kujan is absolutely determined to prove that Keaton is Soze. But then why would Verbal deny that and reaffirm his stance? It’s simple. Giving in easily, or altering the story according to Kujan, would raise suspicions. Kujan states that Verbal is a cripple, and he is weak, and therefore Keaton chose to cheat him. Verbal, until this point, has appealed to Kujan’s pity, refusing to accept Kujan’s theory of him being used as a windup toy in Keaton’s plan. Spacey puts up nothing short of a brilliant performance to make it all the more believable for the audience, by acquiescing and rejecting Kujan’s theory at the same time, therefore fortifying the idea of Keaton being Soze in Kujan’s mind. He has successfully made Kujan omit the possibility of Verbal being Keyzer and therefore has used his lies to serve as a contradiction, solidifying Kujan’s explanation before walking out of the precinct.
Drawing this segment to a close, a character’s lies envelop not only his words, but his actions as well. That is why it is increasingly important to create a complex character such as Verbal, with an actor in mind. The performer should be able to convince himself before convincing anyone else, something which Spacey achieved with much effort. He needs to buy his own lies, chomp on them, and digest them, before serving them to anyone else. A mesh of brilliant acting and writing, Verbal is undoubtedly a character who has gained an iconic status.
The Clown Prince of Gotham
“When the chips are down these civilized people will eat each other out”
Arguably one of my most favourite cinematic portrayals, The Joker, played by Heath Ledger, burst onto the fore with the release of The Dark Knight in 2008 and has been living on in the memory of all those who witnessed him. The Joker was no stranger before the release of the film, and has been a the most dominant villain in DC’s comic books, acting as Batman’s arch nemesis. The Joker has been altered by many writers during his stint in the comics, from the golden age to the silver age.
When Nolan was tasked with helming The Dark Knight trilogy, most of his efforts were targeted at making Joker the perfect antagonist for The Batman. From the first act of the film, the Joker is set-up as a highly unreliable persona, a man without a past, who can never be held for his word. Writing such a character, requires much skill, but also provides the writer with ample amounts of creative freedom. A man without a past is an embodiment of a lie. He is whatever he says, and can never be relied on, making him a complete enigma. The Joker is the perfect foil in the The Dark Knight and I shall try to bring out how he spins his lies to perfection.
From the opening sequence, Joker double-crosses his hit team and walks, or rather drives away with the money, and this sets up his character. A man who dwells in the realms of insanity, and can never be relied on. Since the Joker has no backstory, it makes him all the more unpredictable, because whatever he says and refrains from saying, is open to interpretation. When you try to deduce a man’s actions, you tend to look upon what he has done in the past. But when you have no past, you are dealing with a man who can be seen only for his words and actions in the moment. The truth to the Joker, is what he fabricates within the confines of his mind. The nature of that truth is fragile, and can be broken at any point in time. But his ability to convey this fabricated version of truth, so that it becomes believable to others is what makes him a perfect villain. Written by Goyer, and the Nolan brothers, the Joker is setup to exploit Batman at every turn, through his artifice. Let’s take an instance to look at how the Joker exploits the Batman in what turns out to be a pivotal scene in the film.
We are now in the interrogation room in the precinct. Batman and Joker sit facing each other on steel chairs. The air is perforated with cold, the Joker in handcuffs and the Batman with all the leverage. It’s clearly setup that Batman has all the means to extract what he wants from the Joker, and the Joker, as always, is given the liberty to his words. It’s blunt force against the sinister tongue. The Batman begins to question the Joker about Dent and his location, exerting his strength immediately. Now, we are trying to place ourselves within the Joker’s shoes, trying to figure out how to exploit the Batman, and create a leverage out of thin air. So what’s the first thing that strikes his mind?
The Batman, or the caped crusader, regardless of his adopted persona, is a man before anything. A human with a pool of emotions that can be tapped into to create an advantage. He has been able to conceal his identity extremely well, but along the way, we tend to make mistakes. When going up against the Joker, even the slightest stumble can transfer your leverage to him. Earlier in the film, the Joker drops Rachel, Bruce’s love interest, from the building. He plunges down to save her at any cost. Now, The Joker doesn’t need the information of who the Batman is, but he has deduced what matters to him, and he utilizes this to his advantage in this scene.
He tells Batman that he knows about his feelings for Rachel. In this moment, the Joker is addressing the man under the mask. Not the hero of Gotham, but Bruce Wayne. He has nothing to threaten Batman with, and threatens Bruce Wayne instead. We can immediately see that Bruce is caught in a cacophony within his mind, ricocheting between the fear of losing Rachel and his inability to threaten the Joker. He resorts to increasing violence, but realizes he is failing with each passing moment. The Joker realizes he has broken down the suit and reached the man inside, and now reveals the location of both Rachel and Harvey. Now, he has placed a situation in which Batman can only save one person in time, and therefore making a conscious choice of killing the other. Batman reacts by exiting the room, rushing to save Rachel, eminent that he still harbours feelings for her. The Joker is fully aware that Bruce Wayne would save Rachel over Harvey, and lies to Batman. Therefore, The Joker realizes the need for Bruce to save Rachel and exploits it, and therefore making the Batman believe that he has consciously let the other person die, which is equal to the act of murder. A pathological liar would place his lie in such a manner that leads to the omission of one need to choose another. However, this is also another reason why compulsive liars don’t have solid relationships because of their incessant need to lie. It’s a genius scene in which the Joker is crafted as the perfect foil, or rather the crippling blow to Batman from which he must recover. Goyer and the Nolan brothers deserve the plaudits for sketching a character so complex, and Heath Ledger for bringing him to life.
Drawing this post to a close, I had rummaged over many ideas before I settled in on this one. Lying is an intriguing yet increasingly common act that is often overlooked. We watch movies where we have characters that lie, and yet we find it comforting to believe them rather than question them. I felt that understanding how they lie would be an interesting choice to ramble about why other characters sometimes tend to overlook a lie, and why they grasp on it as the last straw. It’s an important area for writers to look into when they draft their character sketches before beginning to write a screenplay, and although I don’t have the access to their notes, I have tried to deduce from the words and actions of these characters. I’d begin to write my next when I stumble upon another intriguing idea that challenges me as I write, and I shall take a break until then. Hope you have a good read, and I’m always open to incorporating any feedback received.
Beyond Four Corners 