Read My Lips

R

Released Jul 5, 2002

1h 58m

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

List

97%

96 Reviews

Tomatometer

82%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Carla Bhem (Emmanuelle Devos) has worked as a secretary for a property development company for a long time. Her job includes everything from handling files to dealing with suppliers. First to arrive in the morning, last out at night... And her reward? To be paid like a serf, treated like mud and ordered around like a dog. The name of the solution is Paul Angeli (Vincent Cassel), the new trainee she had hired that is fresh out of jail. She teaches him good manners and he teaches her bad ones.

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Critics Consensus

A clever and offbeat character study about two people discovering each other.

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nefasto r

Good Romance / Thriller story. I particularly liked the two characters, and that is why I preferred the first part of the film, the introduction part, to the second part, with more action and less charm.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I feel like all these kinda french quasi-thrillers are overrated, but they aren't bad by any means. They're just way overrated. They almost always have pacing problems and story problems. But they're well-acted and do enough clever things. Anyway, see it. It's good.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

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Audience Member

Surprising and refreshing.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Carla is a deaf secretary in a property firm. Overworked and bullied by her male colleagues, she is asked to take on an assistant to help with her workload. Carla is insulted, but agrees and employs ex-con Paul. He's inexperienced, knowing only the life of a petty criminal, but Carla covers for him and gets him a place to stay away from the hostel he has been placed in. In exchange for her kindness, Paul agrees to help Carla gain revenge on her male bullies, progressing her career and status in the company. When it comes time to repay the debt, Carla is dragged into the criminal underworld where she joins forces with Paul to rob a local loan shark. This is a clever character study of two very different people thrown together and how they react with each other. Emmanuelle Devos gives a great performance and subtly conveys Carla's outsider status. Great sound design showing her audio perspective as she tunes in and out of the real world. Cassel shows Paul to be the chancer he is belying confidence and machismo. Once again a great twisting tale from Jacques Audiard directing a film that shifts from one theme to another quite seamlessly. One minute corporate espionage, next a romance, next a heist film. With this many facets, it would be easy for the film to get lost in identity, but it never does thanks to the intriguing leads. Encore bravo Jacques. Yet to find a film of his I don't like.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The sexual tension between Vincent Cassel and Emmanuelle Devos is palpable in this intense thriller. Half a star deducted for the disappointing ending but I look forward to seeing more of Jacques Audiard's films.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The first half of the movie is a brilliantly made, greatly acted, original and delicate story about a troubled woman who finds relief and hope in a man totally different from her. The second half is a trivial thriller. It could have been a marvellous movie... and that makes it even more disappointing.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

Full Review

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Jacques Audiard

Director

Vincent Cassel

Paul Angeli

Emmanuelle Devos

Carla Bhem

Olivier Gourmet

Marchand

Olivia Bonamy

Annie

Olivier Perrier

Masson

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Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

May be the finest thriller/romance hybrid of the new century.

Rated: A-

May 4, 2005

Full Review

Empire Magazine

Rated: 3/5

Mar 2, 2003

Full Review

Geoff Pevere

Toronto Star

Audiard has created one of those rare, commercially released movies that trades in actual, honest-to-god surprise.

Rated: 4/5

Oct 4, 2002

Full Review

Nick Rogers

Midwest Film Journal

Crawling onto the razor's edge with bare hands, Jacques Audiard's film generates daringly uncomfortable, psychologically dangerous heat rarely found in romance of any stripe. Exhilaratingly paced, cleverly suspenseful and tastefully erotic.

Rated: 3.5/4

Sep 17, 2010

Full Review

Mark Halverson

Sacramento News & Review

Rated: 4/5

Aug 7, 2008

Full Review

Jean-François Vandeuren

Panorama

Un film en constante progression dmarrant sur la note d'un drame exceptionnel pour se terminer sous les traits d'un des suspenses les mieux nantis des annes 2000

Rated: 8/10

Mar 16, 2006

Full Review

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Synopsis

Carla Bhem (Emmanuelle Devos) has worked as a secretary for a property development company for a long time. Her job includes everything from handling files to dealing with suppliers. First to arrive in the morning, last out at night... And her reward? To be paid like a serf, treated like mud and ordered around like a dog. The name of the solution is Paul Angeli (Vincent Cassel), the new trainee she had hired that is fresh out of jail. She teaches him good manners and he teaches her bad ones.

Director: Jacques Audiard
Producer: Bernard Marescot
Screenwriter: Jacques Audiard, Tonino Benacquista
Distributor: Magnolia Films
Production Co: Paramount
Rating: R (Some Sexual Content|Language|Violence)
Genre: Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: French (France)
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 5, 2002, Wide
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.4M
Runtime: 1h 58m
Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Surround, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)