Sur mes lèvres

Plot synopsis:
The film is set partially in the business offices and partially in the underworld of Paris. Carla, a lonely woman burdened by lack of respect from her co-workers and her only friend, Annie, begins to change after a younger man enters her life.
Carla is introduced immediately with a shot of her putting in her hearing aids. She is an overworked and under-appreciated secretary for a construction company, ridiculed behind her back by her co-workers who do not know she is deaf but despise her homely appearance and subservient position. After she faints from exhaustion she accepts the boss's offer to hire an intern to lighten her load.
The first applicant to be her assistant, Paul, is an ex-convict who is not technically qualified to be Carla's assistant, but she hires him. Paul's affable nature and "bad boy" spirit relieve Carla's loneliness and open up new possibilities for her. She rebuffs his initial clumsy sexual advances, but gradually they become a team, using creative but questionable methods to improve Carla's position at work.
Paul convinces her to help him – by using her lip-reading skills – to rob Marchand, a nightclub owner to whom he owes a lot of money and for whom he is working at night to pay off the debt. Reluctant at first, Carla becomes more intrigued as problems arise. After Paul fails to find the money, Carla finds it in Marchand's freezer and takes it to the car where she waits for Paul.
Marchand discovers the theft, thinks Paul stole the money, catches and beats him. Carla and Paul engineer his escape and the robbery's total success. As the movie ends, she instigates their making out for the first time in the car.

Tags: revenge, intrigue, violence

Review:
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.
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 Cessel and Emmanuelle Devos play the nonglamorous leads, Paul and Carla.
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.
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.
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 Cessel for a testosterone-filled performance so intense one can almost smell the leather jacket.(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!).
'Sur mes Lèvres' (`Read My Lips') is so focused on its two main characters it's claustrophobic, but the payoff is that we get inside their lives and stay inside for a very concentrated and interesting 115 minutes.Jacques Audiard has crafted a unique character-driven crime movie with a fresh visual style and a compulsively watchable story.
Emmanuelle Devos won the César for her performance as Carla the deaf office worker, and she dominates the movie along with the sexy, sleazy Paul (Vincent Cassel), a recently paroled petty thief.
The movie is about their odd relationship -- mutual exploitation, let's call it -- and about the successful caper that results as well as Carla's newfound power at the busy property development company where she hires Paul, despite his complete lack of office skills, as her assistant.
We're expected to pay close attention and do some thinking.We also often feel we're spying on people from Carla's point of view, as she does when she reads the lips of gossiping coworkers for herself (and later for Paul) at the office canteen, or when at Paul's prompting she uses binoculars to read lips in a gangland nightclub owner's apartment that Paul starts casing out after he's forced because of a debt to moonlight at the club.
(There's a parallelism between iris-ed images in the movie and Carla's limited hearing.) This is an intrusive, expressionistic camera, but the editing makes us maintain an alert distance as the plot moves from Carla's initially limited existence to its transformation by the explosive personality of Paul and the more and more dangerous embroilments that happen when the two become a mutually exploitive team.We keep seeing the characters enter into yet one more new scene that we sense is risky without quite knowing why.
There's a growing unease that turns into increasing excitement and danger, and finally there's Hitchcockian suspense effectively augmented by forceful cross-cutting between Carla watching the gangsters through the apartment windows after a heist and Paul manning the noisy nightclub bar, which now also has become a threatening place.The movie has flaws.
Given that so much effective use is made of varying sound levels to convey Carla's hearing with and without her two hearing aids -- turned up, turned down, or removed -- the musical background score in non-nightclub scenes is obtrusive.But what's strong about this movie is that it has two actors with the power to dominate the screen, and a director who works with a lot of authority and freshness in presenting his vision.Emmanuelle Devos' characterization as the mousy but smart and persistent Carla is so rich and assured we may just take it for granted -- but the French film industry didn't, since they not only gave her the César, but did so in a year when the other contenders were Charlotte Rampling in `Sur la Sable,' Audrey Tautou in `Amélie,' and Isabelle Huppert in `La Pianiste." Vincent Cassel, who's said he's an instinctive actor, simply embodies his part:  it's his prison tattoo, his sleazy mustache, his oily hair, and his tall, wiry, threatening physicality that make him both repulsive and sexy as Paul.
All the Hollywood stars in the world won't take the place of Audiard's handheld camera and mercurial editing style, or a unique talent that combines sensitivity to the indignities of office workers and parolees with the ability to reinvent film noir tradition.Also unique -- and unlikely to survive an American remake -- is the repression of sexuality between Paul and Carla, which makes the sexual tension between them seem all the more powerful throughout this tightly constructed, economical movie..
Read My Lips is a wonderfully nasty little gift to the faithful from director Jacques Audiard, featuring sharp storytelling and fine performances from Emmanuelle Devos and Vincent Cassel.The basic plot could have been written in the 40's: dumb but appealing ex-con and a smart but dowdy femme fatale (who turns out to be ruthlessly ambitious) discover each other while living lives of bleak desperation and longing, manipulate each other to meet their own ends, develop complex love/hate relationship, cook up criminal scheme involving heist, double crosses, close calls and lots of money.
As is the penchant of French filmmakers , many scenes were shot on real streets and in public places, giving a cinema verite feel to the story , yet L'Emploi du temps also possessed an elegant look thanks to excellent camera work and some stunning location footage ( most notably a Swiss mountain retreat ).
Running fairly on the heels of that masterful movie comes another impressive French production, Jacques Audiard's gritty crime caper, Sur mes levres ( Read My Lips ).
When her boss calls her into the office to suggest that she hire a secretarial assistant to help her with the work load, Carla fears she may lose her job.
That being said, what one carries away from this movie isn't so much the similarities to classic Hitchcock thrillers, although those elements are definitely there, but the pervasive view a of a modern day city (in this case Paris) where life runs the gamut from mundane workdays to a boozy, garish nightlife where sex, drugs and laundered money infiltrate the lives of several characters.
That's why I decided to give this movie a try and I must say that I'm glad that I did."Sur mes lèvres" or "Read my Lips" as it is called in English, tells the story of a young secretary named Carla.
She hopes to teach him what a regular life should look like, but at the same time he drags her with him in his old life...Since I still believe that the name Hitchcock is used too often to describe a very good thriller - which this movie definitely is - I will not make any comparisons between Hitchcock and Jacques Audiard's directing.
Paul could have been the average tough guy right out of jail and Carla the typically helpless woman, but thanks to their performances, you really believe that these are two strong people who both have had some bad luck in life but who will make the best out of it together.All in all this is a powerful movie with a very fine script and some excellent acting.
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.
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.
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.
Without sound, the world is left open to any possibility, and that is frightening.As we watch this difficult and unsettling woman setting into her life, we are then uprooted and given the opportunity to meet Paul (played exquisitely by Vincent Cassel), a slicked-back hair, mustache-wearing lanky man who was just released from prison, homeless, jobless, and forced by his parole officer to get a job.
And who cares about Hollywood standards when films like Kangaroo Jack and Old School come out of it?I am sick of movies playing with the intelligence of the viewer.
Read My Lips, directed by Jacques Audiard from a screenplay by Mr. Audiard and Tonino Benacquista, is a film that works on many levels: as a black comedy, a heart-pounding thriller, a psychological drama, and simply as a thoroughly engaging movie.
Emmanuelle Devos (winner of last years Cesar Award for Best Actress) turns in a brilliant performance as Carla, a hearing impaired, emotionally reserved office assistant for a property development company.
Carla's deafness, however, is just one facet of her character and Audiard does not use it to pluck our heartstrings.Paul soon learns that he owes a debt to a violent nightclub owner, Marchand (Olivier Gourmet) and makes a deal with him where, in lieu of payment, he will work behind the bar in his sleazy nightclub.
Paul, in turn, plans to rob Marchand (who is planning a major heist) and uses Carla's skill at lip reading to spy on him from a rooftop across the street.
But Paul sees a grander opportunity with Carla's skill in lip reading and draws her even further into a world of intrigue.This is a brutal film noir unrated and probably suitable for older teens.
Surely one the French films of the decade so far, a taut, atmospheric thriller making full use of the lead characters hearing impediment to use sound in a way rarely explored in cinema.
wonderful French film noir, whose perhaps greatest idea is to set a Noir-ish tale in a world of dreary offices and daily misdemeanours.Add to the mix: a wonderful female lead (a deaf, underappreciated secretary) whose life takes an unexpected turn after hiring an assistant; a good male lead (a former thief freshly released from prison who becomes her office assistant - and then something more dangerous); two good actors (Emmanuelle Devos and Vincent Cassel in absolute "no glamour" mode); a well-crafted screenplay; fresh, edgy dialogue; simple and effective direction...French people are so lucky to still have good genre movies that manage to make strong statements about society..
Vincent Cassel plays the part of Paul, an ex-con assigned to an office job where he meets Carla, a secretary who is quite deaf', when she has her hearing aids in very deaf when not (played by Emmanuelle Devos).
The co-writer and director managed to play with the codes (film noir, office movie, romantic comedy, thriller) without falling prey to stereotypes.
You can divide the movie in two parts namely the first hour at where we see how Carla (Emmanuelle Devos) meets Paul (Vincent Cassel) and then the second hour which is developing itself in a real film noir that apart from some brutal scenes can be best described as an intimate arty film noir.
This small French film centers on put upon office secretary Carla (Emmanuelle Devos) who spends her days doing other men's jobs, uncredited, and being the source of their scorn and lunchtime conversation which is all too clear to her as, being partially deaf, she reads lips.
Throughout the whole film, no matter what other characters are on screen, you can feel this amazing bond between Carla and Paul.
Finally, giving free thinking to the watcher.In this very movie, we are first getting acquainted with the job's situation in France : quite open when it comes to communication (we've got a deaf and an ex-convict in the firm )but sclerosed when it comes to the issue of real equality.The psychologic part begins when these two people are meeting : apart from their mutual attractiveness, something else is going on ; what ?
Emmanuelle Devos is excellent in the lead role, subtly conveying the change in her character as the story progresses; Vincent Cassel, meanwhile, as the criminal, appears to be auditioning for the job of the next Gerard Depardieu, playing the shaggy old Frenchman in a role that seems light years away from his fresh-faced student in 'L'Appartament'.
To say too much more about the story, which has many twists, would be a mistake.The most interesting thing about this film for me is how sound is used to indicate when Carla can hear and when she can't -- a sort of "point of hear" (like point of view).
The early scenes that set this up, as well as the early character development of Carla and Paul, was more interesting to me than the twists and turns later on, some of which were hard to follow and/or stretched credibility a bit.
Not too much ambition, right: Sur mes lèvres is only an entertaining French film with good characterization.For all the clever noir points in the screenplay the end is by far too easy.
Characters'description is profund, goes into details...both start to help each other; for she can read on lips, which reveals itself to be very useful for him...She will progressively evolve, far from what she was at first.It's beautifully filmed; the whole is very convincing, even if it turns into a film noir at the end.
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.
"Read My Lips (Sur mes lèvres)" (which probably has different idiomatic resonance in its French title) is a nifty, twisty contemporary tale of office politics that unexpectedly becomes a crime caper as the unusually matched characters slide up and down an ethical and sensual slippery slope.The two leads are magnetic, Emmanuelle Devos (who I've never seen before despite her lengthy resume in French movies) and an even more disheveled than usual Vincent Cassel (who has brought a sexy and/or threatening look and voice to some US movies).The first half of the movie is on her turf in a competitive real estate office and he's the neophyte.
The second half is on his turf as an ex-con and her wrenching adaptation to that milieu.Writer/director Jacques Audiard very cleverly uses the woman's isolating hearing disability as an entrée for us into her perceptions, turning the sound up and down for us to hear as she does (so it's even more annoying than usual when audience members talk), using visuals as sensory reactors as well.None of the characters act as anticipated (she is not like that pliable victim from "In the Company of Men," not in individual interactions, not in scenes, and not in the overall arc of the unpredictable story line (well, until the last shot, but heck the audience was waiting for that fulfillment) as we move from a hectic modern office, to a hectic disco to romantic and criminal stake-outs.
The real beauty in this film comes from the way the director takes advantage of the leading character's disability.
With the World Cup upon us, it's perhaps a little schematic to view 'Read My Lips' as a film of two halves, but I felt the promise & characterisation of the early scenes (the tentative relationship between Carla & Paul) gave way to a violent finale & melodramatic ending which detracted from the rest of the film.It's an interesting & original scenario and Emmanuelle Devos as Carla is wonderful in her role as the repressed, put-upon secretary with hearing problems, whose fateful meeting with Paul, the ex-con, leads to danger and a Hitchcockian 'Rear Window' scenario.I felt the plot definitely lost direction towards the end; it might have been a more crueller scenario, but I think it would have been more believeable if Paul & Carla had become lovers first, and then the film ended with her being betrayed by him.
In 'Read my Lips', however, Audiard's 'Carla and Paul' have become the French version of 'Bonnie and Clyde'.Carla finally casts off her sexual aversions and gets down with the bad boy at film's end.
For Director Audiard, Paul's Parole Officer is the key to explaining the film's theme.
Each film directed by the man has rewarded my expectations.Carla, played by Emmanuelle Devos, is a near totally deaf employee at a major construction and development firm where only her supervisor appears to have noticed her talent and dedication, whereas her co-workers see her with a different and biased eye.