Read My Lips

This Cesar-winning (best actress, screenplay and sound) crime story cum gritty romance between a hard-of-hearing administrative aide (Emmanulle Devos), who is maligned by her male office associates, and an ex-con new hire (a relentlessly oily Vincent Cassel) was the opening film of the recent Sacramento French Film Festival. Clara and Paul share the nuances and metaphorical solitary confinement of their disparate worlds and eventually must decide if they are better off with or without each other after they stage a burglary and must leverage their loot to escape the wrath of vengeful thugs. Jacques Audiard’s noir-ish film about repression, manipulation, seduction, retribution and sudden twists in attitude and fortune is alternately gripping, funny and disturbing as basic morality takes a backseat to self-justified social and economic restitution.