Separate Lies is a 2005 British drama film directed by Julian Fellowes, who also wrote the screenplay, updating the 1951 novel A Way Through the Wood by Nigel Balchin, which had already been turned into a stage play under the title Waiting for Gillian in 1954.

Separate Lies marked the directorial debut of Julian Fellowes,[1] who had worked mostly as an actor and won an Academy Award with his screenplay for Robert Altman's Gosford Park.

Anne, his younger wife, is accommodating and dutiful and likes the life they lead; the house in London, the Buckinghamshire hideaway.

At a village cricket match, Anne meets William Bule, son of a leading local family, who has recently returned from America.

A Buckinghamshire police inspector questions the Mannings and Bill about the accident, and James is torn between doing the right thing and maintaining appearances at all costs.

James really loves Anne, and the couple take a trip to Wales in an effort to leave the accident, their guilt, and their marital troubles behind.

The Guardian gave the film three out of five stars, writing "In lesser hands, the characters would be pasteboard, Cluedo-ish types, and to be honest that is what they still are, a bit; but by bringing his formidable wit to bear, Fellowes is able to take them away from the Agatha Christie world and closer to the elegant milieu of Claude Chabrol.