''Read My Lips'' (french: Sur mes lèvres) is a 2001 French film by

Jacques Audiard Jacques Audiard (; born 30 April 1952) is a French film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is the son of Michel Audiard, also a film director and screenwriter. He has won both the César Award for Best Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Fi ...

, co-written with

Tonino Benacquista Tonino Benacquista (born in Choisy-le-Roi on 1 September 1961) is a French crime fiction author, comics writer, and screenwriter. He wrote the novel ''Malavita'' (''Badfellas'' for 2010 English translation), which was later adapted into a film b ...

. The film stars

Vincent Cassel Vincent Cassel (; ; born 23 November 1966) is a French actor. He first achieved recognition for his performance as a troubled French Jewish youth in Mathieu Kassovitz's 1995 film '' La Haine (Hate)'', for which he received two César Award ...

as Paul, an ex-con on parole, and

Emmanuelle Devos Emmanuelle Devos (born 10 May 1964) is a French actress. She is the daughter of actress Marie Henriau. She won the César Award for Best Actress in 2002 for her performance in ''Sur mes lèvres'', directed by Jacques Audiard. She has also bee ...

as Carla, a nearly

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

secretary whose colleagues treat her disrespectfully, causing her to suffer. Despite their different backgrounds and initial fear of each other, they end up intimately related and helping each other.

Plot

The film is set partially in the business offices and partially in the underworld of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. 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 A hearing aid is a device designed to improve hearing by making sound audible to a person with hearing loss. Hearing aids are classified as medical devices in most countries, and regulated by the respective regulations. Small audio amplifiers su ...

. 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 Making out is a term of American origin dating back to at least 1949, and is used to refer to kissing, including extended French kissing or heavy kissing of the neck (called ''necking''), or to acts of non-penetrative sex such as heavy pett ...

for the first time in the car.

Cast

: Paul Angeli *

: Carla Behm *

Olivier Gourmet Olivier Gourmet (born 22 July 1963) is a Belgian actor. Gourmet was born in Namur. He won the Best Actor award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for his role in '' Le Fils'' by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. He also appeared in ''La Promesse ...

: Marchand *

Olivia Bonamy Olivia Bonamy (born 21 September 1972) is a French actress. She is best known for her appearances in the films '' Jefferson in Paris'', Jacques Audiard's '' Read My Lips'', the thriller '' Ils'' and '' Le ciel, les oiseaux et ta mère''. Biogr ...

: Annie *

Olivier Perrier Olivier Perrier (born 15 September 1940) is a French actor. He appeared in more than forty films since 1972. Selected filmography References External links * 1940 births Living people French male film actors {{France-film-act ...

: Masson *

Bernard Alane Bernard Alane (born Bernard Noël Vetel 25 December 1948) is a French actor and singer, he is the son of actress Annick Alane. He is best known in France for his roles in two films directed by Edouard Molinaro, ''Hibernatus ''Hibernatus'' is ...

: Morel * : Josie * Pierre Diot : Keller * François Loriquet : Jean-François * Serge Boutleroff : Mammouth *

David Saracino David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

: Richard Carambo * Christophe Vandevelde : Louis Carambo * : Le Barman * Loïc Le Page : Quentin *

Nathalie Lacroix Nathalie is a female given name. It is a variant of the name Natalie (given name), Natalie/Natalia (given name), Natalia which is found in many languages, and is especially common in French language, French and English language, English speaking c ...

: L' Empoloyée

ANPE The ''Agence nationale pour l'emploi'', or ANPE (English: "National Employment Agency" or "National Work Agency") was a French government agency which provided counseling and aid to those who are in search of a job or of training. The ANPE was c ...

* Laurent Valo : Le jeune sourd du café * Christiane Cohendy : Mathilde * Isabelle Caubère : Jeanne *

Chloé Mons Chloé Mons (born in Lille on 1 December 1972) is a French actress and singer. Biography Chloé grew up in Lille in a family of musicians. She is the sister of Barnabé Mons, the leader of the psychedelic rock group Sheetah & Les Weissmullers. S ...

: Boubou * Patrick Steltzer : Lehaleur * Patrick Wintousky : Le chef de chantier * Gladys Gambie : Danseuse n° 1 * Maurine Nicot : Danseuse n° 2 * Keena : Danseuse n° 3

Awards and nominations

César Awards The César Award is the national film award of France. It is delivered in the ' ceremony and was first awarded in 1976. The nominations are selected by the members of twelve categories of filmmaking professionals and supported by the French Min ...

(France) **Won: Best Actress – Leading Role (Emmanuelle Devos) **Won: Best Sound (Cyril Holtz and Pascal Villard) **Won: Best Writing (Jacques Audiard and Tonino Benacquista) **Nominated: Best Actor – Leading Role (Vincent Cassel) **Nominated: Best Cinematography (Mathieu Vadepied) **Nominated: Best Director (Jacques Audiard) **Nominated: Best Editing (Juliette Welfling) **Nominated: Best Film **Nominated: Best Music (Alexandre Desplat) *

European Film Awards The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the mo ...

**Nominated: Best Actress (Emmanuelle Devos) **Nominated: Best Screenwriter (Jacques Audiard and Tonino Benacquista) **Nominated: Audience Award – Best Actor (Vincent Cassel) **Nominated: Audience Award – Best Actress (Emmanuelle Devos) * Newport Film Festival (USA) **Won: Best Actress (Emmanuelle Devos) **Won: Best Director (Jacques Audiard)

References

External links

* * * {{Jacques Audiard 2001 films 2001 crime thriller films 2001 psychological thriller films French crime thriller films Films about deaf people Films set in Paris Films featuring a Best Actress César Award-winning performance Films directed by Jacques Audiard Films with screenplays by Jacques Audiard Magnolia Pictures films 2000s American films 2000s French films Films about disability

Plot

Cast

Awards and nominations

See also

References

External links