Read My Lips

Synopsis: Carla Bhem (Emmanuelle Devos) works as a secretary in a property development office. She has been there a long time, and is capable of taking on many of the big jobs herself. However, whether it is because of her reliance on hearing aids or the fact that she is the only female in a testosterone-saturated workplace, or none of the above, so far she hasn’t been acknowledged for anything more than her ability to answer phones and file papers. That is until she is offered an assistant. Paul Angeli (Vincent Cassel) who will solve her problems, only thing is, not quite as she expected.

Have you ever had that experience, where you come out from seeing a film, and to all intents and purposes, you could be the lead actor having just walked down from the screen. That was the way I felt after leaving Read My Lips. I was Carla. Full of her anger and frustration. So much so that I reneged on the wine and cheese on offer from the organisers of this year’s French Film Festival. If only she hadn’t been quite so angry!

Eventually I was able to crawl back into my much more mild-mannered persona and reflect on this response. I take my hat off to the director and co-writer, Jacques Audiard for creating a character that could so effortlessly inhabit my world with such an impact. Here we have a psychological thriller that forces us to look in on the lives of the two main characters, even at times when it gets too real, and you just wish they’d turn the camera away. And sometimes they do. Paul’s parole officer, played by Olivier Perrier seems harmless enough. But is he? Why isn’t he more upset about his missing wife?

This sense of uneasiness runs through the film as Paul and Carla discover themselves thrown together as two people who haven’t made it into the mainstream of society. Not that this really seems to bother them. Almost like vultures, they wait for the people with the power to let down their guard, allowing them to move in for the pickings. At first it appears as if Carla sees Paul through rose-coloured glasses. It isn’t long before she realises he is as much out for himself, as she is for her own agenda, and once this is evident, they are on equal footing.

And here we find the beauty of this film. They have no illusions as to their place in society, and even less about their chances of ever really fitting in. In this realisation, they having nothing to lose, and nothing to hide in deciding to help each other. In the moment of doing so, a flame is kindled and they both see a possible future other than where life was leading them. Cassel and Devos are the stars of this film, however Audiard holds the vision of this uncomfortable, but ultimately moving story.

 

 

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