Sur mes lèvres (2001)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Jacques Audiard

Writers:

Jacques Audiard (writer)
Tonino Benacquista (writer)

Release Date:

17 October 2001 (Belgium)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Il va lui apprendre les mauvaises manières... Elle lui apprendra les bonnes.

Plot:

She is almost deaf and she lip-reads. He is an ex-convict. She wants to help him. He thinks no one can help except himself.

Plot Keywords:

Trainee | Secretary | Ex Convict | Trick | Boss

Awards:

7 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Vincent Cassel	...	Paul
Emmanuelle Devos	...	Carla
Olivier Gourmet	...	Marchand
Olivier Perrier	...	Masson
Olivia Bonamy	...	Annie
Bernard Alane	...	Morel
Céline Samie	...	Josie
Pierre Diot	...	Keller
François Loriquet	...	Jean-François
Serge Boutleroff	...	Mammouth
David Saracino	...	Richard Carambo
Christophe Vandevelde	...	Louis Carambo
Bô Gaultier de Kermoal	...	Le Barman
Loïc Le Page	...	Quentin
Nathalie Lacroix	...	L'Employée ANPE

Also Known As:

Read My Lips (Canada: English title) (DVD title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, violence and some sexual content.

Runtime:

115 min | Argentina:119 min | UK:118 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | France:U | Netherlands:12 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Canal+

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When the man calls for Paul Angeli and then hangs up, Carla peers into the copy room and then hangs up the phone. As she is sitting at her desk, the reflection of a moving crane or boom mic extension is visible in the glass behind her.

Movie Connections:

References Rear Window (1954)

Soundtrack:

Make It Funky

An Engrossingly Original French Thriller

I settled back to watch "Read My Lips," a plate of Freedom Fries before me. The food was quickly forgotten as I became engrossed by director and co-writer Jacques Audiard's original and superb thriller.

Carla (Emmanuelle Devos) is a secretary at a firm that develops major building projects. She actually has some significant responsibilities that don't often fall to secretaries and she's capable and ambitious. And thwarted by a male hierarchy that will exploit but not reward her.

Work piling up faster than she can handle it, Carla is told to hire a secretary. Enter ex-con and general layabout Paul (Vincent Cassel). He lies about his skills and in fact has none that any legitimate enterprise might require. After an initial serious misunderstanding by Paul as to Carla's interest in him, the two become allies. A quirky friendship starts. In a stunt that would have made a real Carla a major contender on "The Apprentice," she trumps her egotistic male adversary at work with Paul's connivance. Exit the rival.

Carla is virtually deaf without her hearing aid. With it she hears almost normally. She turns the hearing aid off to isolate herself from unpleasant sounds and annoying people. She's also very lonely. A heroic makeup effort was made to have her appear plain but she's truly beautiful. She hasn't a boyfriend. She babysits so a friend can have a liaison (it IS a French movie) Worse and humiliatingly, she accedes to a girlfriend's plea that she hang out somewhere while that married friend has it off with her paramour in Carla's bed. Not nice.

As Carla and Paul get to know each other better, the barely repressed larcenous side of the not so former felon emerges. There's a side story, by the way, of Paul's relationship with his parole officer which neatly complements the main plot and has its own big surprise ending.

"Read My Lips?" Ingenious Paul recognizes that Carla's ability to read lips, even from a considerable distance, is more than the amusing parlor trick it first seems to be.

From there a caper develops. Enough said.

Paul and Carla are a true criminal oddball couple. She wants love but will also accept money. He wants her, sort of, but business must come before possible erotic satiation. Together Cassel and Devos are strong actors carrying an unusual crime tale to its end very convincingly.

Rent it or buy it but if you enjoy a good crime story you'll go for "Read My Lips." And you may well want to watch it several times: I do.

9/10