The Truth (15)
- Consumer Advice: Contains strong language and sex references
- Run time: 1 hour 59 mins
- Genre: Comedy
- Release date: 13th January 2006
- Starring: Elizabeth McGovern, Rachael Stirling, Zoe Telford
- Directed by: George Milton
- Official Website: www.thetruthmovie.com
- Distributor: Guerilla Films
Plot Synopsis
Candy, in her early 20s, joins a group of mismatched strangers in an isolated country retreat for a week of new-age therapy that she hopes will change her life.
The course is run by charismatic Californian guru Donna Shuck, whose seven-step programme Adventures in Truth teaches that spiritual growth can be achieved through speaking the truth at all times.
Candy is quickly disillusioned. In their quest for deep personal growth, Donna’s new-found followers reduce the course to petty back-biting and the emotional torture of a young Croatian refugee, Mia. Is Donna the warm mother they’ve all been looking for, or is she a dangerously manipulative charlatan? Candy decides she doesn’t want to stick around to find out but, when she tries to leave, she discovers she’s a virtual prisoner.
Candy and Mia rebel: in group therapy Mia bites back and tells the real truths about each person, including Donna. Her truths prove a little too truthful – it’s not long before Mia is found strangled in the Serenity Woods.
Donna encourages the group to see Mia’s death less as a tragedy and more as an opportunity. She helps the group unite around a spiritual quest: to reach out to the mystery strangler amongst them and, most importantly, answer their anonymous ‘cry for help’.
Candy is horrified at the murder of her only friend, appalled that the group sympathises more with the killer than the victim. But she dare not speak the truth – any sign of dissent could buy her a one-way ticket to the Serenity Woods. She’s now trapped in world of mistrust and deception, and she needs help to get away. But anyone she befriends might be her enemy, or worse – the killer.
In group therapy the least popular member Scott breaks down and confesses to Mia’s murder. But Candy is suspicious: could such a loser be the killer? Or has Scott merely confessed through an abiding desire to be hugged?
Finally the group takes a boat trip to the middle of a remote lake, to lay Mia to rest in an emotional New Age ceremony. As the shore recedes, Candy fears it could be her funeral too.