Lies We Tell, an atmospheric Irish drama set in a remote castle, tells a tense story of young Maud (Agnes O’Casey) and her struggle to hang on to her inheritance while greedy relatives seek to steal it all.

Lies We Tell begins when Maud’s father dies. He taught her some family secrets about truth and lies. He left his estate and all his wealth to her. This was 19th Century Ireland, a time when women had no legal rights. Maud was 18. She was capable and very smart, but not of age to legally run her own affairs yet.

Maud’s Uncle Silas (David Wilmot) was named as her guardian. He showed up with his son Edward (Chris Walley), daughter Emily (Holly Sturton), and Emily’s caregiver–a woman known as Madame (Grainne Keenan).

The newcomers quickly took over everything. Uncle Silas made it clear that he expected Maud to marry Edward and to hand over everything she had inherited to him. She was not compliant. She didn’t do anything the way Silas wanted her to.

Silas, Edward, and even Madame became more and more aggressive and violent toward Maud as they implemented their evil schemes.

Maud told them to leave. She offered a large sum of money if they would go. Instead Silas paid a doctor to claim she was hysterical and had plans to put her in a mental asylum. Silas would then have free access to all the loot.

Maud was smart, she found ways to thwart Silas and hold him at bay. The film became exciting and edge-of-your-seat thrilling by the end. The last few moments circled back to the beginning, with Maud talking about truth and lies.

Lisa Mulcahy directed the film. It was shot in Ardgillan Castle, a location that has been used in other films as well. It was perfect for this movie with big light filled windows in the day time and candlelit rooms and hallways at night. (I think they supplemented the candle light somehow because the scenes weren’t as pitch dark as a lot of period movies that rely on candle light.)

This wasn’t a great movie, but it was engaging and exciting and had a very satisfying ending. It’s streaming in a lot of places now: Tubi, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Plex, Netflix, Fawesome, and Prime Video.