Every week, there’s a slew of new content to tuck into on Netflix and we’re definitely not complaining. But with all the new shows, films and documentaries coming to the platform each week, it’s natural that some of them may dip under your radar.

One of the films that wasn’t initially on ours but has consistently been ranking in Netflix’s ‘top films in the UK today’ list is The Good Liar.

Now, on the basis of the 2019 film’s synopsis alone, we have a pretty standard conman plotline. A cagey con artist (Ian McKellen) pursues a widowed Oxford university professor (Helen Mirren) who has substantial savings but “nothing is quite what it seems with this mark”. It’s adapted by screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher from the bestselling 2016 novel by Nicholas Searle, but the film itself is an unexpected hit.

McKellen is utterly convincing as dual personality Roy Courtnay. One minute, he’s hunched over and complaining of knee pain to garner sympathy – and a place to stay – from Betty (Mirren). And the next, he’s gouging out the eyes of other conmen and throwing them onto the London underground train tracks.  

He’s sinister and, as soon as Betty turns her back on him, his smiling, well-meaning façade quickly drops. You convince yourself that, perhaps, he could actually be falling in love with this woman, but actually, his desire for money and thievery overrides any morality here.

He’s an utterly loathsome character who teams up with other elderly men in Stringfellow’s to discuss the sums of money they’ve conned women out of. It’s a cruel line of work, and even within it, he manages to embark on another investment scam – leading to some of the film’s more violent scenes.

In the recent wave of conmen-related content, we’ve seen it all. From outrageously lavish stories of fraud to spells of immortality and faked deaths. And trust us, we did initially think that The Good Liar may fall foul of the same tropes and tiresome romance scam storylines. Instead, it comes at the viewer from an entirely different – and unexpected – angle altogether. It’s part of the reason why we were so excited by it.

While we follow Roy’s tricks and espionage throughout the film, it’s actually Betty who we should be keeping an eye on. As she divulges details about her personal finances (of £2 million, may we add) and ignores warnings of love bombing from her grandson Steven (Russell Tovey), you can’t help but want to shout out to her: “Don’t say that in front of Roy, for goodness’ sake.” 

As Roy moves in and makes more plans to join their assets together, a trip to Berlin uncovers a past that Steven is keen to let his grandmother know about – the fact that Roy is actually German-born Hans Taub, who stole Roy’s identity to live freely in Britain post-second world war.

Even then, Betty accepts his convoluted explanation but just when you think you can write this film with an expected ending, it does everything in its power to convince you otherwise. Through flashbacks, revelations soon come to light and suddenly the whole film comes into crystal clear focus.

With conman stories so heavily focusing on the motivations of these criminals, it’s nice to see a film put the stereotypically hoodwinked middle-aged victim front and centre in her own way. We’re not going to give away the ending but it’s Mirren’s performance as doe-eyed Betty, and then, as a transformed heroine in the film’s last moments, that really makes this film special.

The Good Liar is now available to stream on Netflix. 

Images: IMDB