Sur mes lèvres
Encyclopedia
Sur mes lèvres is a 2001
French
film by Jacques Audiard
, co-written with Tonino Benacquista. The film stars Vincent Cassel
as Paul, an ex-con on parole, and Emmanuelle Devos
as Carla, a nearly deaf 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.
. A lonely woman, burdened by the lack of respect her deafness brings her, takes comfort in a younger man who enters her life. Together they advance through scandalous operations while also falling in love.
Carla, the main protagonist, is introduced immediately with a shot of her putting her earpiece
in. However, the audience is made to feel empathy not due to Carla's partial-deafness, but due to the abuse suffered by her on account of it. Audiard ensures that the distressing nature of this is as pronounced as possible, forcing the audience to watch her cope with her job as an overworked and under-appreciated secretary for a construction company. It isn't until she literally cannot take the stress anymore — the point at which she faints from the exhaustion of the litter, the spilled drinks, and the snide remarks of her unpleasant fellow employees, that Carla accepts the boss's offer of hiring an intern to lighten her load. Carla's suppressed but still desperate loneliness is expressed by the very gender-specific criteria she uses to advertise for the position of her new assistant.
The man she ultimately hires, Paul, is an ex-con who is not nearly technically qualified to be Carla's assistant, but Carla is very much attracted to his looks and his demeanor, and decides to take him on. She quickly yearns for his intimacy but is afraid of and troubled by those desires at first, knowing his past. Quickly, however, the two are willed together by organic friendship and attraction. Carla decides to take increasingly outlandish chances with the man, including awareness of an underground scheme being committed by some former fellow inmates of Paul's. Paul's affable nature and "bad boy" spirit possesses the cure to Carla's loneliness, and as personal situation grows increasingly complex — ultimately involving a robbery they plan using Carla's lip-reading skills — Carla's passion for Paul overflows, and the two happily become a couple.
2001 in film
The year 2001 in film involved some significant events, including the first of the Harry Potter series and also the first of The Lord of the Rings trilogy...
French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
film by Jacques Audiard
Jacques Audiard
Jacques Audiard is a French film director, the son of Michel Audiard, also a notable screenwriter and film director.He won twice both the César Award for Best Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language, in 2005 for The Beat That My Heart Skipped and in 2010 for A Prophet...
, co-written with Tonino Benacquista. The film stars Vincent Cassel
Vincent Cassel
Vincent Cassel is a Cesar award winning French actor probably best known to English-speaking audiences through his performances in the Ocean's Trilogy of films and Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan.-Personal life:...
as Paul, an ex-con on parole, and Emmanuelle Devos
Emmanuelle Devos
Emmanuelle Devos is a French actress. Devos was born to daughter of actress Marie Henriau in Paris. She appeared in 50 films between 1986 and 2009. She won the César Award for Best Actress in 2002 for her performance in Sur mes lèvres, directed by Jacques Audiard...
as Carla, a nearly deaf 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
Jacques Audiard combines disability, insecurity, love, revenge, and intensity to form this modern thriller. The film is set partially in the unwelcoming offices, and partially the dirty underworld, of ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. A lonely woman, burdened by the lack of respect her deafness brings her, takes comfort in a younger man who enters her life. Together they advance through scandalous operations while also falling in love.
Carla, the main protagonist, is introduced immediately with a shot of her putting her earpiece
Hearing aid
A hearing aid is an electroacoustic device which typically fits in or behind the wearer's ear, and is designed to amplify and modulate sound for the wearer. Earlier devices, known as "ear trumpets" or "ear horns", were passive funnel-like amplification cones designed to gather sound energy and...
in. However, the audience is made to feel empathy not due to Carla's partial-deafness, but due to the abuse suffered by her on account of it. Audiard ensures that the distressing nature of this is as pronounced as possible, forcing the audience to watch her cope with her job as an overworked and under-appreciated secretary for a construction company. It isn't until she literally cannot take the stress anymore — the point at which she faints from the exhaustion of the litter, the spilled drinks, and the snide remarks of her unpleasant fellow employees, that Carla accepts the boss's offer of hiring an intern to lighten her load. Carla's suppressed but still desperate loneliness is expressed by the very gender-specific criteria she uses to advertise for the position of her new assistant.
The man she ultimately hires, Paul, is an ex-con who is not nearly technically qualified to be Carla's assistant, but Carla is very much attracted to his looks and his demeanor, and decides to take him on. She quickly yearns for his intimacy but is afraid of and troubled by those desires at first, knowing his past. Quickly, however, the two are willed together by organic friendship and attraction. Carla decides to take increasingly outlandish chances with the man, including awareness of an underground scheme being committed by some former fellow inmates of Paul's. Paul's affable nature and "bad boy" spirit possesses the cure to Carla's loneliness, and as personal situation grows increasingly complex — ultimately involving a robbery they plan using Carla's lip-reading skills — Carla's passion for Paul overflows, and the two happily become a couple.
Cast
- Vincent CasselVincent CasselVincent Cassel is a Cesar award winning French actor probably best known to English-speaking audiences through his performances in the Ocean's Trilogy of films and Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan.-Personal life:...
as Paul Angeli - Emmanuelle DevosEmmanuelle DevosEmmanuelle Devos is a French actress. Devos was born to daughter of actress Marie Henriau in Paris. She appeared in 50 films between 1986 and 2009. She won the César Award for Best Actress in 2002 for her performance in Sur mes lèvres, directed by Jacques Audiard...
as Carla Behm - Olivier GourmetOlivier GourmetOlivier Gourmet is a Belgian actor. 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, Rosetta and L'Enfant....
as Marchand - Olivia BonamyOlivia BonamyOlivia Bonamy is a French actress 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.-Biography:...
as Annie - Olivier Perrier as Masson
- Bernard Alane as Morel
- Cecile Samie as Josie Marchand
- David Saracino as Richard Carambo
- Christophe Vandevelde as Louis Carambo
- Pierre Diot as Keller
- Serge Boutleroff as Mammouth
Awards and nominations
- César Awards (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
- 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 FestivalNewport International Film FestivalNewport International Film Festival was an annual film festival in Newport, Rhode Island, established in 1998 .The Newport Film Festival was generally held the first week in June and featured various international films at several local cinemas...
(USA)- Won: Best Actress (Emmanuelle Devos)
- Won: Best Director (Jacques Audiard)