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Roy Courtnay, formerly named Hans Taub, is the main antagonist of the 2019 crime thriller film The Good Liar.

He is an aging British conman and seasoned fraudster who specializes in using false identities to deceive people into giving him access to their finances. This soon involved targeting a widowed pensioner named Betty McLeish, but in the end Roy's scheme is undone when their respective identifies are revealed; Roy was a German translator named Hans Taub who had previously raped Betty, formerly known as Lili Schroeder at that time, before proceeding to indirectly cause the deaths of her family during World War II.

The character was portrayed by Ian McKellen, who also played Magneto in the X-Men film series, King Richard III in the 1995 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Richard III, Kurt Dussander in Apt Pupil, Sir Leigh Teabing in The Da Vinci Code, The Toad in Flushed Away, and Horatio P. Huntington in Animal Crackers.

Biography[]

The movie begins with Roy Courtnay, an eldery British man, meeting up a widowed pensioner named Betty McLeish on a date in London. He learns that she is a former history professor at Oxford University who lost her husband a year ago and has savings in excess of £2 million.

It soon transpires that Roy is an aging conman and seasoned fraudster who, along with his business partner Vincent Halloran, uses false identities to deceive people into giving him access to their finances; with Betty being his latest target. After their date, Roy feigns a bad knee to manipulate Betty into letting him stay at her house. This works successfully and soon he begins to steadily encourage her open a joint offshore investment account with him, as part of his plan to steal her money.

At the same time, Roy and Vincent run an investment scam with their mark Bryn and his associate by employing fake Russian investors. One of the fake Russians, actually a Polish butcher named Vlad, demands a greater cut of the take; in response, Roy orders thugs to break the butcher's hand with a meat tenderizer. Later on, Bryn finds out that he has been robbed and follows Roy while the latter is taking Betty out shopping in London. Upon spotting Bryn nearby, Roy sends Betty into the shops before luring Bryn into Charing Cross tube station. There, Bryn confronts Roy and demands his money back; Roy manages to stall Bryn long enough to stab him in the eye before shoving Bryn into the path on an incoming train, killing him as a result. Shortly afterwards, Roy reunites with Betty back at the shops.

A few days later, Roy and Betty go on a holiday in Berlin. There Betty notices that Roy appears to understand German, even when he claims otherwise. Soon Betty's grandson, Steven, takes the couple to a flat that Roy recognizes. It is then Steven explains that he found out that "Roy Courtnay"— a young British Army officer — was killed there in 1948 by a Nazi war criminal whom he was tracking, according to Soviet records. Roy narrates an elaborate story of his mission in Germany and explains at first that a German named Hans Taub was his foreign translator. The mission ended Hans' death. However, Steven is unconvinced of Roy's theory and again confronts him over his theory. Roy eventually admits that he is Hans Taub and had stolen Roy's identity in order to leave Germany and then reinvent himself; Betty accepts his explanation and dismisses Steven's objections.

Eventually, Roy and Betty plan to transfer their money into the joint account. Beforehand, though, Vincent learns from Roy that Betty has a medical condition; Vincent then suggests to Roy that he leave at least some of the money for Betty to help with her medical condition, but Roy dismisses the idea and insists that he will leave Betty financially defrauded just like his previous victims. With Roy refusing to change his mind, Vincent reluctantly agrees to go through with the plan; soon he particapates in the transactions necessary for Roy and Betty to transfer their money into the joint account. Afterwards, Roy heads to a train station and Betty bids him farewell.

However, after leaving Betty and returning to his flat, Roy discovers that he no longer has the keypad needed to access the account. He later returns to Betty's house to reclaim it, only to find Betty waiting for him and that all the house's contents have been removed. Betty attempts to force a confession out of Roy, before revealing that her identity and personal history are all fake; Betty's real name is actually Lili Schroeder, and that she had met Roy before back in 1943 when they were both German teenagers and Hans was tutoring her in English. On their last session, after trying to kiss one of her sisters, Hans raped Lili. Thereafter her parents dismissed him, because of the kiss and then discovering what happened to Lili, from continuing his tutoring lessons; Hans later denounced Lili's father as a traitor and he was executed by the Nazis. This drove Lili's mother to commit suicide, after which Lili's sisters were killed in an explosion just two weeks before the death of Adolf Hitler. Following the end of the war, Lili suffered at the hands of the Russians; it was then she became a good liar for survival, and ultimately Lili made her way to England.

After recounting their past, Betty/Lili explains to Roy that she has been fully aware of his plan to con her all along. Steven, who was in fact the boyfriend of her real grandson Michael, tracked Roy/Hans' criminal history and they confirmed his identity in a DNA test using a locket from Betty/Lili's childhood that contained a piece of Hans' hair. She also reveals that Vincent has betrayed Roy after being confronted with her knowledge of their crimes. As such, Betty deduced that Roy lied about having a son called Robert that he previously claimed to have throughout the ruse. Realizing that he has been exposed, Roy says he will beg her forgiveness. Betty, however, says that she is "beyond him now." after stating how she forgave him a long time ago; she then takes all his money out of their joint account, but not before leaving Roy with only enough money to pay back the victims of his fraudulent activities.

Just as Betty prepares to leave the house, Roy locks the door and attacks her. They scuffle to the point where he nearly rapes her again, but Betty fends off Roy by stabbing him with her pen and then breaking his pinky finger before kicking him on the ground. Thereupon she summons both Bryn's associate and Vlad themselves to confront Roy for previously scamming them earlier on. Betty then leaves the house as Roy, defiant to the last and refusing to pay his clients back, is consequently beaten up.

Weeks later, Roy - having suffered a severe stroke during the fight - is shown in hospital against a painted backdrop of a beach; he has become paralysed to the point of being unable to speak or move. Vincent pays him a visit and gives Roy a drink, telling him to "Pretend it's champagne". The liquid dribbles out of Roy's paralysed mouth once he sips it.

Elsewhere, Betty is shown living happily with her extended family - having finally managed to overcome her trauma at the hands of Roy in the end.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Given that Roy/Hans was 15-years-old when he raped Betty/Lili in 1943, he was most likely born in 1928 and appeared in the present at 81 years old.