The new movie You Hurt My Feelings is about all the little white lies we tell the people we love, in order to not hurt their feelings. Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays an author married to a therapist, played by Tobias Menzies. They’re a perfectly happy couple, until she realizes he doesn’t like her new novel and has been lying to her about it. 

Nicole Holofcener, who wrote and directed the film, which is out this weekend, tells ABC Audio it came from a personal place.

“I think it initially came from a fear that people are lying to me or that somebody really close to me doesn’t like my films, and yet they like me. And can they like me if they don’t like my films? And, you know, feeling way too connected to my career, like my career is me,” she explains.

Adds Holofcener, “I hope that couples turn around to each other and start asking questions. And I’m sure there are plenty of lies in the answers. You know, it’s like, does my a** look fat in this? I mean, it’s really opening up a can of worms.”

When it comes to her work, Louis-Dreyfus says she “would like to have the truth, please.” However, she’d like to have the truth “delivered kindly. Yeah, Kindness, I think, is the mitigating factor.”

Menzies agrees, noting that “Even though it can be very uncomfortable, ultimately, I would rather have the truth and then kind of, yeah, try and work it out from there.” 

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