Norma Khouri

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New DVD: Forbidden Lies

October 10, 2010 in Film | Permalink

Norma Khouri's book, "Forbidden Love," has been reclassified as a novel.

Scandals about non-fiction bestsellers of dubious veracity are neither new nor even so rare, but few are as jaw-dropping as the one that Norma Khouri perpetrated with her 2003 memoir, Forbidden Love. That book purported to tell the story about the author’s best friend, Dalia, who supposedly was brutally murdered by her Jordanian family because she fell in love with a man outside her religion. In the wake of 9/11, with suspicion of all things Middle Eastern at fever pitch, the book became a sensation and Khouri a literary star. But people eventually began to ask whether it was true.

It was not. Subsequently caught in a web of lies by an Australian journalist, Khouri held tight to her bogus claims and even fully participated in Anna Broinowski’s documentary about her to clear her name. Bad idea. As filmmaker and subject bound from Jordan to Chicago to Sydney, the story unravels further and further and Khouri begins to shift her lies to fit whatever situation presents itself. Pretty soon it’s obvious that she’s actually a Windy City con artist who did not spend most of her life in Jordan. As excruciating details of Khouri’s life emerge, what forms is a fascinating extreme psychological portrait of a person who will travel halfway around the world to tell ridiculous lies. Broinowski doggedly hangs on for what’s a wild ride but certainly no joyride.

The film ultimately becomes as much an exploration into Khouri’s odd mindset as a literary investigation, and the inveterate liar ultimately tries to defend her behavior by painting herself as a victim of her shifty family and friends. She has evidence to back up some of these claims, but the truth has been trampled underfoot so thoroughly by film’s end, it’s all but unrecognizable. (Available from Netflix and other outlets.)

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