Separate Lies, written and directed by Julian Fellowes, is the tale of a seemingly ambiguous couple’s relationship becoming increasingly disjointed after a motorist strikes a bicyclist near their Buckinghamshire cottage.

James and Anne Manning are introduced as a docile, wealthy, and mostly happy couple—exactly the type that has everything figured out—which leaves them set virtuously high and apart from their world’s plebeians. Their fate quickly proves however that morality, faithfulness, and ultimately forgiveness cut through all of society’s strata.

The film’s pace is contemplative if not stodgy, but the performances all around are quite good. The lack of violence and pitched drama pleasantly focuses attention on the sensible dialogue of the characters, my favorite of which is William Bule, played by Rupert Everett, a vacuous and self-absorbed blue blood. Entertaining, well done, but not spectacularly innovative.