Read My Lips
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: July 5, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
30
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Not a heist film, a thriller, a twisted romance, a film noir or a character study, but a unique concoction that bends all these genres to its vision. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
Though you get caught up in the criminal element (you really want these people to get away with it), you're also fascinated by who to trust. It's an unusual dance between the awkward and plain that becomes romantic and thrilling -- a subtly impressive feat to say the least. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Expertly sinister, office-as-devil's-playground French thriller. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Since you can't read my lips, read my words: See this movie.
90
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Fascinating and transgressive love story. Read full review
90
SalonCharles Taylor
It's a wholly amoral movie, but it's honestly amoral. And that's a relief for the audience. Read full review
90
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Like so many European pictures these days, Read My Lips seems destined to be remade in Hollywood, and it is unlikely to be improved by the addition of vainer actors, a simpler screenplay and flashier direction. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
While the plot twists in Read My Lips may be too intensely melodramatic for some tastes, the performances of the two leads are impeccable, just about compelling our belief. Read full review
90
The New YorkerDavid Denby
The movie turns into a serious and rather audacious study in the sexiness of a nonsexual relationship, though by the end the audience may be rooting for the two to quit risking life and limb and just go to bed together. [15 July 2002. p. 90]
90
Chicago ReaderStaff (Not credited)
The tense climax stretches the story's credibility to the breaking point, but for the most part this is noir of an exceptionally high caliber, its sequence of events revealing two complicated and compromised people. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Exciting to watch: The audio disruptions of Carla putting in or taking out her hearing aids and the inventiveness of the way the heist plot is revealed are just a couple of the film's treats. Read full review
88
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
An unconventional and engrossing French thriller. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Not a simpleminded movie in which merely being ABLE to read lips saves the day. In this brilliant sequence, she reads his lips and that ALLOWS them to set into motion a risky chain of events based on the odds that the bad guys will respond predictably. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
A finely written, superbly acted offbeat thriller. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
An inventive, propulsive office thriller. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Unlike in many character studies, the plot is more than just a simple framework. It is complex and unpredictable, and, as a result, provides the perfect means to better get to know the characters and understand the shifting nature of their relationship. Read full review
88
New York PostJonathan Foreman
Isn't just scary, charming and delightfully unpredictable - it's also smarter and subtler than any new movie out there. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
This is the kind of unusual but involving picture that's ripe for a Hollywood remake - but while you're waiting for the Sandra Bullock-Ethan Hawke edition (it's a good post-movie game: coming up with your own casting ideas), Read My Lips is well worth checking out. Read full review
80
New Times (L.A.)Robert Wilonsky
Audiard keeps things shaky, grim, claustrophobic, doomed. His film has the feel of documentary, as he follows Clara through the daily grind that pulverizes her. We're in her head, literally. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Improbably, Read My Lips escapes the cynicism of much contemporary neo-noir, if only by a hair, by ending as a love story of delightful crackpot idealism, in which Paul has made a crook and a hussy out of Carla, and she's made a gentleman out of him. Read full review
80
VarietyDerek Elley
Engaging chemistry between leads Emmanuelle Devos and Vincent Cassel. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
For as long as director and co-writer Jacques Audiard focuses on the central relationship, his stylish film stays on steady footing. Read full review
80
TimeRichard Schickel
The comedic first part of Jacques Audiard's film doesn't achieve a seamless connection with its melodramatic second half, but you can't deny the originality of his conceit or the tart cynicism of its development. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
A gritty thriller on the theme of the con man conned. It works as well as it does thanks to a captivating lead performance by Emmanuelle Devos and the superb direction of Jacques Audiard. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The two leads don't have sexual chemistry together, but that's part of the point. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
There's a satisfying craftsmanship to every sequence, the direction is stylish without being show-offy, the plot mechanics are convincing, the pace is breakneck and compelling, and the film does something unique and interesting with its Hitchcockian concept. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
You could describe Read My Lips as a love story, but that would make the movie sound much more conventional than it really is. See it now, before the inevitable Hollywood remake flattens out all its odd, intriguing wrinkles. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Hailed as a clever exercise in neo-Hitchcockianism, this clever and very satisfying picture is more accurately Chabrolian. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
The action is largely psychological, but it's accelerated by Audiard's nervous camera, chiaroscuro lighting, and jangling montage. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Offers you the ostensible bargain of two movies in one -- a character study at the outset and the crime caper that follows. The first picture is intriguing, the second stinks. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Devos is especially fine as a woman whose inner solitude carries depth charges. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The first half is a well-acted psychological drama, but the second half is standard thriller fare with more action than insight. Read full review
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