Why are movies about outrageous con artists so fun to watch? Forbidden Lie$ combines caper and exposé and teems with so many self-serving characters that the camera itself seems to be the only one that isn’t lying. The film revisits Norma Khouri’s bestselling book Forbidden Love, a personal narrative of the events leading up to the “honor killing” of her Jordanian best friend, Dalia, because of her love for a Christian soldier. Upon closer look, it becomes apparent that Khouri may have taken extreme artistic license in her autobiographical account. Lit by the spark of contention, the film delves into characters and motives that are usually the province of fiction. The conventions of the thriller genre complement the film’s nonfiction commentary, especially when it comes to the West’s eagerness to believe the worst about the treatment of women in Muslim families.  NK