This Canadian film, released in the year 2009- White Lie, starring Kacey Rohl garnered a lot of attention initially, for its plot that stood out from the normal genre that hits the theaters. This movie raised several eyebrows regarding its intense storyline about a girl who fakes having cancer.
From there on, the audience is taken on a journey where the main character has to keep topping her lies to get her ultimate goal- a university bursary.
Despite the interesting plotline, the ending has still left the audience a bit puzzled. So an in-depth analysis of the climax might provide the essence of this movie.
What Is The Premise Of This Movie?
To get into it in detail, this movie is about a girl named Katie Arneson, a university student who has been faking cancer. To fit the sickness role, she starves herself, shaves off her hair, and generally appears to be weak as a real cancer patient would. This deception, however, gains her a lot of sympathy and attention in college, turning her into quite a well-known “cancer warrior” at her university.
She uses this for her gain, by crowdfunding her supposed treatment, gathering supporters, friends, unconditional love, and emotional support from her girlfriend, Jennifer Ellis, who doesn’t see through this charade.
How Does The Plot Move Forward?
Conflict is introduced when Katie sets her eyes on a university bursary; for which she is selected as a worthy candidate, which is in jeopardy given that she is unable to provide the appropriate medical records. She finds a medical resident to forge this record for her, for $2000.
She goes on to ask her father to fund this but he sees right through her lies as a similar incident happened when she was in high school. As she makes several attempts to obtain this money; her father also works hard to stop her from scamming Jennifer into giving her this amount.
Does She Get The Money?
Despite repeated efforts from her father to stop her from getting this money; and losing her support from people around her, she is somehow able to get the money. She once again manipulates her girlfriend into paying for this. Jennifer promises to be by her side and support her in any way possible. So yes, she does get the money.
Ending Explained
Katie’s last-ditch attempt to salvage her situation is to talk on a radio program, to which Jennifer accompanies her. Jennifer offers her support and says she’ll always be present throughout her treatment, to this; Katie responds by asking Jennifer to marry her and that she won’t lie or be sick anymore.
This is a crucial turning point in the movie, wherein Jennifer realizes that Katie has in fact been lying the entire time; and by securing Jennifer’s commitment, she will effectively stop faking cancer. This realization leaves Jennifer shocked and she begins crying. It’s in the ending that the story sheds light on what a white lie is and what is not.
