The tagline that crowns the cinema release poster for The Farewell, “based on an actual lie”, is comic, but universal. Universal in that “actual lies” seem to be commonplace in negotiating and persevering through family relationships.

Actual lies are, some might argue, a necessity in maintaining or restoring relative peace. So much so that director Lulu Wang has based this, her second and most recent feature film, on her own family’s attempt to shield her grandmother from a morbid illness.

In The Farewell, Billi – played by Awkwafina, (fresh from her star-turn in Crazy Rich Asians) – is told in no uncertain terms that her Nainai (Mandarin for “grandmother” and played by Zhao Shuzhen) must be prevented from knowing the truth about her health. Not only that but the extended family are going to bid a final farewell to Nainai under the hastily forced wedding of Billi’s cousin and his very, very, very new girlfriend.

The Farewell review: an overwhelmingly honest look at family, love and grief