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Summary: compelling leads
Review: the plot is fairly straightforward but the two leads are excellent.
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Summary: A fast-paced caper film with an emotional tug. I loved it!
Review: This 2001 French film is done so well that my emotions were touched in every scene. Carla, played by Emmanuelle Devos, is a secretary in her mid thirties. She's mostly not noticed by her peers and is often called upon to do favors for her friends. She has a hearing aid and, when she uses it, she can hear everything. She can also read lips. Because she is overworked, her boss says she can hire an assistant. She chooses a good looking male ex-con without any skills, played by Vincent Cassel. She asks him for a favor which has to do with stealing some documents which will result in her getting a promotion at work. After that, he asks her to use her lip-reading skills to help him out in a caper. It's not all as simple as that though. Eventually, everything spins out of control and the caper takes over. It's a fast paced romp from here on in with the bittersweet beginnings of a romance. There are twists and turns of the plot which sometimes seem a bit contrived but by then I was so caught up in the story that I didn't care. This is a fine film with a unique theme. Recommended.
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Summary: Film Noir with French Flair
Review: This film has an original flair that makes it stand out from the good but predictable movies we see at the theaters. It takes a girl who is plain and has a hearing impairment and gives her charisma and brains. Instead of her staying a victim in a world of business, she breaks the mold and takes charge. She meets a man who is also a victim like herself, a convict on parole, gives him a job as her assistant, finds him a place to live, and helps him with money. They take to one another, they form a team and work as a team to get something out of life. Instead of continuing to be victims and get the short end of the stick, they turn it around and beat the system. I loved this! They go about things by stealing but who cares, it was fun to watch and see them outwit and outsmart. The sexual tension is high, the movie never really shows any sex but the hint of their attraction keeps growing and growing. They really begin to care for one another. They seem to almost be soulmates, the way they work together, both of them linked in a way that the movie illustrates very nicely. I am told that the actress won the Cesar award in France for her portrayl of Carla. Also Vincent Cassell stars, you may know him in the film La Haine or Hate, which I think Jodie Foster produced. His character was very sexy in an odd sort of way. He intrigued me! Well a definate recommendation if you like Hitchcock or film noir in general, with real original French creativity!! Bravo Lisa Nary
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Summary: Beautiful, dark and resonant!
Review: This movie rocks! It's a love story/character piece disguised as crime noir. Cassel and Devos are excellent as the leads (Devos won the Cesar, beating out Audrey Tatou in Amelie) and while the film is imperfect (a subplot involving a missing person seems underdeveloped) the unfolding relationship between Devos' deaf secretary and her newly hired lug of an assistant is a beauty to watch. Also, the inventive use of sound editing will no doubt be copied in Hollywood films to come.
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Summary: Reading each other--the reawakening of Carla Behm
Review: Work at SEDIM, an architectural firm, isn't a bed of roses for Carla Behm. As its office assistant, she suffers from what the folk group the Shams called the file clerk blues. Things are hectic, as she spends the day sending faxes, answering the phone, directing calls, taking messages, signing for packages, and having to deal with employees who dump their half-empty coffee cups on her desk. She is hearing impaired, though, requiring two hearing aids that she can activate or deactivate, as she does during lunch. There, she lip-reads and finds out how she's considered a loser and a joke. She's homely and what man would want her? More to the point, she's resentful that despite being talented and able to handle bids, her higher-ups get them and of course the commission from winning the bids.
She decides to employ a personal assistant and it turns out to be a recently released ex-con named Paul, whose kind of doped-up look and slurry mannerisms make him a doubtful candidate. He knows next to nothing about office equipment but she decides to help him out by giving him a place on a building site whose construction is delayed for months. In return, he helps Carla sabotage Keller, a colleague who seems intent on keeping Carla down. However, things take a turn when someone asks for Paul. She's horrified to witness him being beaten up by that someone. Turns out that Paul borrowed lots of money from a loan shark, who's giving him until the next day to pay up or else. Marchand, who inherited the loan shark's accounts and owns a nightclub, allows him to work off his debts for the full amount, meaning he has to quit working for Carla.
The teaming up of Carla and Paul signals an awakening in them both. Carla is slow to admit being attracted to him, but when she invites him to a friend's party, she asks him to act as if they're friends, and even to hold her hand. Through him, she feels validated, that she is somebody and has a life because she has a male companion. As if to maintain that need, she does tell him once that he does owe her. She feels frustrated at his callousness at times, and finds out she needs him as her partner at the office. He in turn sees her in a position of power, but finds she's unique in her gift.
She's naturally taken aback when Paul asks her to spy on his boss, who's organizing some sort of dodgy deal with the Carombo brothers. As she can read lips, she can use binoculars from the roof of the club and "see" what they're saying. That's one aspect of her disability that comes in handy. Holding crying babies or going into high decibel discotheques is nothing for her, as she can remove her hearing implants, and now...
Interspersed is a subplot involving Paul's parole officer, whose wife has been missing for several days. The resolution of that is unexplained but one can make valid assumptions on that part.
As the put upon Carla, Emmanuelle Devos exudes a character one can empathize with. She feels self-conscious because. But despite looking ordinary, she's still pleasant and even pretty when she smiles. The movie succeeds in defying the stereotypical prettifying the lead woman into a flower. The result is a half workplace drama, half crime drama where the characters gradually go from being attracted by each others talents to being physically attracted to each other.
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