Customer Reviews

Read My Lips [VHS]

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Carla (Emmanuel Devos) in Jacques Audiard's "Read My Lips" (Sur Mes Levres) is a social failure on several counts: she's practically deaf and wears two hearing apparatuses, she considers herself drab, with lifeless hair and spotty skin, she's overworked and under appreciated as an administrative assistant, she is taken advantage of by her prettier friends and employer, her fellow workers call her a "dog" and is used as a convenient, anytime baby sitter by one friend in particular. But Carla has one thing none of her friends and co-workers have: she's devilishly intelligent and merely waiting, lying in wait really, for an opportunity to implement her intelligence and unleash her wrath on a uncaring and unfeeling world. That opportunity comes in the guise of one Paul (Vincent Cassell) who applies for a job as Carla's assistant, having just been released from prison for theft and a multitude of other petty crimes. Paul, though applying for a job as an assistant to Carla has no experience on computers, taking dictation, using a copy machine or making coffee for that matter. But Carla, sensing a kinship and maybe something else, hires Paul on the spot...experience or not.
Carla likes ordering Paul around and uses Paul and his friend's "muscle" and strong-arm tactics to get things done at her place of employment... a Real Estate firm. Carla first utilizes Paul's larcenous skills by having him steal some papers from a co-worker and thus make him (the co-worker) look like a jerk to their boss and Carla a hero. Paul has ideas of his own also, and when he learns that Carla can read lips he asks for her help to bilk his night employer out of some major cash.
Carla is a great character: a seething mass of contradictions...straight-laced on the surface yet underneath a big mass of resentment and pent-up hate and hostility. Emmanuel Devos does a remarkable job with this role: she's appropriately sheepish and shy when appropriate but check out her eyes...there's a deep morass of something else, something larcenous, perhaps. Carla may be hard of hearing and a stooge for her friends and co-workers...but she ain't no dummy, that's for sure.
Vincent Cassell as Paul is on the one-hand scary as hell looking: greasy hair, tattooed arms yet there is a softness there and Cassell plays both sides of his character with aplomb: most of the time both in the same scene. The combination of his raw, brute-like force and street smarts and her intelligence and hostility makes for an unbeatable combination for a screen pair like we've never before seen.
Jacques Audiard has made a film about two down-and-out people who use crime as a way out of their predicament and, though it isn't at all easy... it works because, though Paul and Carla can grate on your nerves, they have a concrete plan that Carla makes sure is followed to a "T."
Ultimately, it is all about Charm....isn't it? And Audiard has made sure that Paul and Carla come off as the heroes of his film....downtrodden, desperate even, but sweet, charming and remarkably organized and intelligent. Like I've always said: It's always about the details, details, details.

For those of you who have seen this rather extraordinary romantic thriller noir, my review title is self-explanatory: this is cinema verité for the 21st century. For those of you who haven't, let me note that this begins slowly, so stay with it. You won't regret it.

What French director Jacques Audiard has done is create a taunt noir thriller with a romantic subplot intricately woven into the fabric of the main plot, told in the realistic and nonglamorous manner usually seen in films that win international awards. In fact, Sur mes lèvre did indeed win a Cesar (for Emmanuelle Devos) and some other awards. For Audiard character development and delineation are more important than action, yet the action is extremely tense. The romance is of the counter-cultural sort seen in films like, say, Kalifornia (1993) or Natural Born Killer (1994) or the Aussie Kiss or Kill (1997), a genre I call "grunge love on the lam" except that the principles here are not on the road (yet) and still have most of their moral compasses intact.

Vincent Cassel and Emmanuelle Devos play the nonglamorous leads, Paul and Carla. Carla is a mousy corporate secretary--actually she's supposed to be mousy, but in fact is intriguing and charismatic and more than a wee bit sexy. But she is inexperienced with men, doesn't dance, is something of a workaholic who lives out a fantasy life home alone with herself. She is partially deaf and adept at reading lips, a talent that figures prominently in the story. She is a little put on by the world and likes to remove her hearing aid or turn it off. When she collapses from overwork her boss suggests she hire an assistant. She hires Paul, who is just out of prison, even though he has no clerical experience. He is filled with the sort of bad boy sex appeal that may recall Jean-Paul Belmondo in Godard's Breathless (1959) or even Richard Gere in the American remake from 1983. We get the sense that Carla doesn't realize that she hired him because she found him attractive. When Carla gets squeezed out of credit for a company deal, she gets Paul to help her turn the tables. From there it is but a step to a larger crime. Note that Carla is unconsciously getting Paul to "prove" his love for her (and his virility) by doing what she wants, working for her, appearing in front of her girl friends as her beau, etc.

The camera work features tense, off-center closeups so that we see a lot of the action not in the center of our field of vision but to the periphery as in things partially hidden or overheard or seen out of the corner of our eyes. Audiard wants to avoid any sense of a set or a stage. The camera is not at the center of the action, but is a spy that catches just enough of what is going on for us to follow. Additionally, the film is sharply cut so that many scenes are truncated or even omitted and it is left for us to surmise what has happened. This has the effect of heightening the viewer's involvement, although one has to pay attention. Enhancing the staccato frenzy is a sparse use of dialogue. This works especially well for those who do not speak French since the distraction of having to follow the subtitles is kept to a minimum.

Powering the film is a script that reveals and explores the unconscious psychological mechanisms of the main characters while dramatizing both their growing attraction to each other and their shared criminal enterprise. But more than that is the on-screen chemistry starkly and subtly developed by both Devos and Cessel. It is pleasing to note that the usual thriller plot contrivances are kept to a minimum here, and the surprises really are surprises.

See this for Emmanuelle Devos whose skill and offbeat charisma more than make up for a lack of glamor, and for Vincent Cassel for a testosterone-filled performance so intense one can almost smell the leather jacket.

"Read My Lips" stars Vincent Cassel ("Crimson Rivers") and Emmanulle Devos, directed by Jacques Audiard, whose father Michael was also in the film business, a famous writer for many Fench noir films. And this film is also a great noir, based on one simple idea which Audiard uses quite brilliantly.

The film is seen from the viewpoint of Carla (Devos), who works at a small office as secretary. Carla, who is now mid-thirty and needs a hearing aid, is always ignored at her office, and is made to work hard before the copy-machine. And her life is utterly lonely.

So, when the boss told Carla to hire an assistant, she wants someone whom she can definitely "amiable." And preferably, male. Enters a guy named Paul (Cassel), who is, as he reveals soon, on parole, and may still have some connection with the underworld. Does she hire him? Why not, and he is very handsome.

The relations between Carla and Paul lead on to the series of unexpected events, including a love story and big money. Carla is clearly in love with Paul, but at the same time she kind of exploits him as his possible "love" and employer; Paul also uses her special gift of "reading lips" in the situation like "Rear Window," in which he might get even with the gangster who had once humiliated him.

"Read My Lips" belongs to the genre of noir, some people say rightly, but the film works better as a romance between two losers in society. It's not an usual love or romance. It's a kind of romance in which one finds a consolation in the other, but the act starts to violate the codes of ethics as it goes on and on. There are crimes depicted here, but the most profoundly moving one is about the very dangerous relationship between Carla and Paul, or especially anything about Carla, who manipulates and is manipulated.

Great acting from Emmanuelle Devos who must be both "ugly" and "seductive" at the same time. She simply rivets your eyes on the screen whenever she appears. No wonder she beat Audrey Tautou at Cesar Awards, winning the best actress. Even Vincent Cassel pales before him, and that's really something.

The only complaint is its unnecessary sub-plot about the parole officer, which looks as if mercilessly cut to make room for the two leads. I thought, OK, but why not cut it all?

That aside, "Read My Lips" is a strong film about the power-game between the man and woman. Rarely was the relation between man and woman depicted so convincingly. And love, very fragile kind of love.

READ MY LIPS -- an Official Selection to the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival, 2001 Toronto International Film Festival, 2002 Rendezvous with French Cinema, and the 2002 San Francisco International Film Festival -- is nothing short of flawless.

Carla Behm (Emmanuelle Devos) plays a frumpy-looking administrative assistant to a real estate development firm, always relegated to second place due to near-deafness which requires her to wear hearing aids. The object of constant ridicule, she spends her work days mildly obsessed with reading the lips of her coworkers ... only to be driven further into seclusion by the nasty things they say about her.

Paul Angeli (Vincent Cassel) is an ex-con who lies in order to obtain a position under her supervision -- the parameters of his parole require that he work ... and, through a curious set of circumstances, the two find an undercurrent of attraction to each other that neither is willing to act upon.

However, when the two discover that their mutual gifts -- her reading of lips and his planning of the perfect heist -- can suit one another's needs, their relationship takes a wealth of Hitchcockian turns until they find themselves fighting for their lives ... and fighting for one another's heart.

A truly wonderful film, READ MY LIPS should be 'read' by all.

Despite the fact I'd heard no buzz about it, I stumbled upon 'Read My Lips' earlier this year and thought I'd give it a try. Now, I'm trying to spread the word to everyone I know: See this movie. 'Read My Lips' is taut, thrilling, complex, and intelligent. Everything you want in a movie-watching experience.

French director Jacques Audiard has said of this film that he wanted to explore the possibilities from pairing an intelligent but not very good-looking woman with a good-looking man who's not the sharpest stick in the drawer. Thus, we're presented with our anti-heroes, Carla and Paul. Audiard does a great job giving us a visual painting of their respective backgrounds.

Carla: nearly deaf, approaching 'old maid' status (35 and no prospects in sight), obviously bright but trundled on and all but ignored at work (consigned to be an admin at a male-dominated construction company), taken for granted by her friends

Paul: Just released from prison, no discernable talents outside of those that got him into hot water to begin with, desperate to find a job to kind his parole officer happy.

These characters hook up, do a wary dance, and slowly realize how they can use each other's 'unique' talents. What a ride. It's brilliantly staged by Audiard.

One item of note: dowdy and 'not good looking' (Audiard's term) Carla is played by Emmanuelle Devos, who only happens to be one of the world's most beautiful film actresses. So, it takes quite a lot of work to establish the Carla character as overlooked and ignored. Audiard does his brilliantly - for example, coffee cups and water glasses are left wordlessly on her desk as others kibbitz around her and blithely ignore her presence. It's subtle, intelligent movie making, the kind of stuff you want to acknowledge and support.

This 2001 French film is done so well that my emotions were touched in every scene. Carla, played by Emmanuelle Devos, is a secretary in her mid thirties. She's mostly not noticed by her peers and is often called upon to do favors for her friends. She has a hearing aid and, when she uses it, she can hear everything. She can also read lips.

Because she is overworked, her boss says she can hire an assistant. She chooses a good looking male ex-con without any skills, played by Vincent Cassel. She asks him for a favor which has to do with stealing some documents which will result in her getting a promotion at work. After that, he asks her to use her lip-reading skills to help him out in a caper. It's not all as simple as that though. Eventually, everything spins out of control and the caper takes over. It's a fast paced romp from here on in with the bittersweet beginnings of a romance. There are twists and turns of the plot which sometimes seem a bit contrived but by then I was so caught up in the story that I didn't care.

This is a fine film with a unique theme. Recommended.

The editorial review above is pretty much on the money. This is a wonderful head trip for any movie fan familiar with the conventions of office dramas and heist thrillers and a willingness to read subtitles. There were points in this movie when I laughed aloud with delight at the surprising turns of plot and the wonderful, quirky details in the performances, the direction, the soundtrack, and the kinetic camera work and editing.

This will not be everybody's idea of entertainment. The two leads are the opposite of glamorous, and the chemistry between them is more about clever calculation and quick thinking than romantic attraction. There is, in fact, no sex and only a hint of nudity. While there are a couple of pretty nasty, brutish types capable of bloody punch-ups and clearly a willingness to kill, the violence in the film does not build up to a gut-clenching crescendo. Instead, the film generates a fair degree of suspense, but of an old-fashioned kind that is more like Hitchcock -- almost elegant. No car chases or explosions.

I loved this film. Not having read reviews, I was continually taken by surprise, realizing that every unexpected turn of plot as it came was also completely plausible, until I was so far sucked into the movie that plausibility didn't matter any more. As a companion film, I'd recommend "The Lost Son" (1999), with French actor Daniel Auteuil as a private eye in London who takes on a missing person's case and gets involved with some very nasty people.

Sur mes lèvres or READ MY LIPS is fine little thriller that also examines the lives of 'outsiders', people who live in the periphery of our vision who struggle with the need to 'fit in'. Director Jacques Audiard with and co-writer Tonino Benacquista have created a tense, tight, completely entertaining little thriller that makes some significant statements about out of the norm individuals and their plights.

Carla (Emmanuelle Devos) is a plain Jane, mostly deaf, thirty something unnoticed secretary for a company whose life is one of social and sexual isolation and whose view of the future is rather bleak. Enter Paul (Vincent Cassel) a recent released ex-con parolee who responds to an ad to be Carla's assistant. There is a mutual physical repulsion at first meeting: Carla had hoped for a well-groomed, genteel man who might fulfill her fantasies and Paul is a coarse, unkempt sleazy guy who is not impressed with being a clerk. Their concepts change rather quickly when Paul salvages Carla's job by filling her request to steal a letter that would cost her her job and Paul discovers Carla's lip reading ability which he sees as a way to spy on the criminals from his past who threaten his life for money owed. So this odd couple of a team join forces and together enter a dangerous suspense filled ploy to gain Paul's safety and freedom. The relationship is full of twists and edge of the seat suspense with each of these unlikely characters fulfilling roles in their lives that fill the chinks in their walls of isolation in surprising ways.

Devos and Cassel deliver bravura performances and the remainder of the cast is uniformly strong. Once again Alexandre Desplat has produced a musical score that enhances the tension and cinematographer Mathieu Vadepied finds all the right lighting and angles to suggest the worlds of isolation of the characters as well as the Hitchcockian sense of suspense. Director Audiard wisely manipulates a factor that is at once sensitive and transformative for the story: he shows us the difference between 'hearing' the world with and without hearing aids and in doing so makes some powerful social comments. This is a fine film that remains in the ranks of the best of the French film noir genre. Recommended. Grady Harp, January 06

Other reviews will give the basic plot and characters,
I want to add a comment from the view of production design. You are drawn into the close private world of a deaf, not generally socially integrated woman, and you feel her sense of isolation with every shot. These are tight almost claustrophobic shots, you are breathing her air. She hunches over, and avoids directly looking at people and places and most scenes are built by close downward looking shots. The suspense is built scene by scene, everything counts. Closets figure largely, toilets, unfinished apartments, a roof top. It is no accident that these are all marginal spaces, many of which are private and close in to the body of the main character. An absolutely first rate film and a prime example of how design is critical.

This film has an original flair that makes it stand out from the good but predictable movies we see at the theaters. It takes a girl who is plain and has a hearing impairment and gives her charisma and brains. Instead of her staying a victim in a world of business, she breaks the mold and takes charge. She meets a man who is also a victim like herself, a convict on parole, gives him a job as her assistant, finds him a place to live, and helps him with money. They take to one another, they form a team and work as a team to get something out of life. Instead of continuing to be victims and get the short end of the stick, they turn it around and beat the system. I loved this! They go about things by stealing but who cares, it was fun to watch and see them outwit and outsmart. The sexual tension is high, the movie never really shows any sex but the hint of their attraction keeps growing and growing. They really begin to care for one another. They seem to almost be soulmates, the way they work together, both of them linked in a way that the movie illustrates very nicely. I am told that the actress won the Cesar award in France for her portrayl of Carla. Also Vincent Cassell stars, you may know him in the film La Haine or Hate, which I think Jodie Foster produced. His character was very sexy in an odd sort of way. He intrigued me! Well a definate recommendation if you like Hitchcock or film noir in general, with real original French creativity!! Bravo

Lisa Nary