Read My Lips
Screening: 21st June 2004
France 2001 (subtitles)
Directed by Jacques Audiard
Leading players ~ Emmanuelle Devos, Vincent Cassell.
Synopsis
Carla Bhem, 35 years, works as a receptionist-secretary, poorly paid and treated with indifference by her fellow workers. Her deafness, which she manages with hearing aids, intensifies her isolation. When her silent resentment is mistaken for a sign of stress by her boss, he for once shows concern and proposes she recruit an assistant. She chooses Paul Angéli, 25 years, just out of prison and without any particular skills except those of intuition and survival.In him and through him Carla sees an opportunity to break her isolation and later, when one executive steps out of line, to wreak vengeance. Mutual dependence comes with her use of Paul’s seamy skills, and his use of her ability to read lips.
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From the director of See How they Fall (1994) and A Self-made Hero (1996) [shown in the 52nd season] comes a film that itself changes in style as its characters develop, and gives us two splendid interpretations - by two of the most promising French actors of a new generation.
