"Do you want the truth, or what I said?"

January 3, 2015 3:20 PM

Anna Broinowski's acclaimed documentary Forbidden Lies, about literary hoaxer Norma Khouri, is available on YouTube. (TW: family violence)

Also available here as a YouTube playlist.

posted by Quilford (9 comments total)

Trailer (OR IS IT?!!?)
posted by gwint at 3:47 PM on January 3, 2015

The actual title of the film is Forbidden Lie$ and can be purchased as a DVD.
posted by Ideefixe at 4:13 PM on January 3, 2015

[previously] (before the documentary)
[review in comment]
posted by dhartung at 4:13 PM on January 3, 2015

hal_c_on, did you watch the movie? This is way crazier than James Frey. As much of a jerk as that guy was, this is not just a literary hoax. This is life-long con artist exposed because of the literary hoax.

I almost shut the movie off because I thought it was poorly made. Then my jaw hit the floor. And then again and again. The cyclone of lies is incredible.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 6:02 PM on January 3, 2015 [7 favorites]

I JUST finished watching the movie -- it's amazing. You keep expecting that you've hit the depth of the deception, but it just keeps GOING.
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 6:16 PM on January 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

One of the best documentaries I've seen - even a year after seeing it I can feel my juices of rage rising.
The con artist does a profound disservice to so many - women, journalists, Jordanians, all her readers...
posted by Jody Tresidder at 6:55 AM on January 4, 2015

Yup. Just finished watching it now. Great movie, great link. Thx OP.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 11:22 AM on January 4, 2015

I think that the dramatizations in this documentary are a bit over the top. But wow, the lies sure do start piling up. And then it gets worse. By the time she compares her book to the DaVinci Code, we are on a serious trip to crazy town. And then it get even worse. And then even worse than that. An amazing expose of a con artist.
posted by Catblack at 4:06 PM on January 4, 2015

What did she call it? Faction? Wow, that was an amazing documentary. She was nuts but the husband seemed like he was out of a mafia movie. I mean, who really talks like that? I was fascinated as much by his accent as by the story.....
posted by bluesky43 at 6:15 PM on January 4, 2015