Read My Lips

A woman looking for love finds a man who leads her into a life of crime in this thriller. Carla ( Emmanuelle Devos ) is a woman in her mid-twenties who works as a secretary in a real estate office. More cute than pretty, Carla is shy by nature, and the fact that she has a hearing problem has made her all the more withdrawn. While she longs for a relationship with a man, she finds herself living vicariously through her friend Annie ( Olivia Bonamy ), a single parent who dates often while Carla babysits her child. Carla makes the acquaintance of Paul ( Vincent Cassel ), a rough-hewn small-time criminal who has just been released from prison on parole. While Carla ought to know better, she finds herself strongly attracted to Paul, and Paul responds in kind. But before long, it becomes obvious that Paul is having an influence on Carla's normally stable nature; eager to get even with a co-worker who had wronged her, Carla persuades Paul to steal one of her company's files, which makes things more than a bit difficult for Carla's rival. Carla and Paul's actions go from malicious to seriously criminal when Paul hatches a scheme to rob a nightclub owner to whom he owes money — a scheme that involves Carla's keen skill as a lip reader. — Mark Deming