Read My Lips 4K Blu-ray delivers great video and reference-quality audio in this excellent Blu-ray release
She is almost deaf and she lip-reads. He is an ex-convict. She wants to help him. He thinks no one can help except himself.
For more about Read My Lips 4K and the Read My Lips 4K Blu-ray release, see Read My Lips 4K Blu-ray Review published by Dr. Svet Atanasov on September 30, 2025 where this Blu-ray release scored 4.0 out of 5.
Jacques Audiard's "Read My Lips" (2001) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include archival audio commentary by Vincent Cassel and Emmanuelle Devos; new program with Jacques Audiard; archival program with composer Alexandre Desplat; deleted scenes; and more. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.
Part-time bartender, full-time criminal.
Between the 1970s and 1990s, French directors made a lot of interesting crime films that chose to bend the reality of the underworld rather than objectively explore it. These crime films also enthusiastically went to work to compromise the integrity of the classic criminals that had ruled the underworld and, in the process, frequently replaced them with loopy thugs and dopey hoodlums, many of whom were essentially caricatures of the great characters that the likes of Jean Gabin and Lino Ventura had played for decades. Bertrand Blier's Buffet Froid and Andrzej Zulawski's L'amour Braque are arguably the two most extreme films that this trend produced.
Jacques Audiard and his famous father scripted one of the most beautiful films from this trend, Claude Miller's Deadly Circuit, which is also a very interesting chameleon. Deadly Circuit is a mind-bender that produces a caricature, too -- Michel Serrault plays an odd detective who becomes obsessed with a dangerous beauty taking out wealthy targets across Europe -- but while paying tribute to the classic American film noir with unapologetic enthusiasm. So, while technically a close relative of Buffet Froid and L'amour Braque, Deadly Circuit is also a legitimate modern neo-noir film, which is exactly why a decade later, as the great American neo-noir renaissance was coming to an end, Hollywood remade it as Eye of the Beholder.
Read My Lips, which Audiard directed in 2001, is a relic of the same trend, and, like Deadly Circuit, a chameleon as well. It also unites two seemingly incompatible characters, but instead of treating them as modern caricatures, it legitimizes them and, in the process, builds a heavy yet unique noirish atmosphere. However, while it is not unreasonable to profile it as a neo-noir film, Read My Lips does not look or behave like the conventional neo-noir films the likes of Olivier Marshal and Frederic Schoendoerffer were shooting at the same time.
The original material for The Beat That My Heart Skipped came from a novel by Tonino Benacquista, who several years later again collaborated with Audiard on The Beat That My Heart Skipped. However, even though Read My Lips is a faithful cinematic adaptation of this novel, because of how it is shot, it is practically impossible not to describe it as an original project.
Its narrative is broken into three uneven parts. In the first part, an almost deaf, introverted, deeply frustrated, and overworked secretary (Emmanuelle Devos) requests help from an employment office. Shortly after, she begins working with an ex-con (Vincent Cassel) who has no idea how to operate the copy machine next to her desk and must regularly report to his parole officer. After the secretary discovers that he has been sleeping in a tiny maintenance room, she helps him move into an unfinished apartment in a building their employers are finishing. In the second part, the secretary and the ex-con become closer, and he reveals to her that he owes a lot of money to a shady businessman (Olivier Gourmet), who has asked him to begin working in his fancy nightclub to repay him. The ex-con then accidentally discovers that the businessman is planning a heist with a couple of well-known troublemakers, and, thanks to the secretary's lip-reading skills, hatches a plan to steal their loot. In the third part, the secretary and the ex-con prepare to outsmart the thieves and disappear with their loot, but several unexpected developments further complicate their already too risky plan to get rich and permanently reset their lives.
Classic film noirs and contemporary neo-noir films place a great emphasis on their atmosphere, which typically gives them their identity. Read My Lips also takes its atmosphere very seriously. However, the environment in which its characters are placed is not the catalyst for its atmosphere. It is the relationship between the secretary and the ex-con, and specifically the fast-evolving intimate aspect of it, that generates all the noirish qualities and ultimately gives Read My Lips its flexible identity. This development is replicated from Deadly Circuit, which is why Read My Lips shares virtually all of its strengths as well.
Criterion's release of Read My Lips is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray is Region-Free. However, the Blu-ray is Region-A "locked".
The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this release:
"Undertaken by Pathe and supervised by director Jacques Audiard and director of photography Mathieu Vadepied, this new 4K restoration was created from the 35mm original camera negative. The 5.1 surround soundtrack was remastered from the optical soundtrack negative.
Please note that some of the screencaptures included with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc.
Screencaptures #1-26 are taken from Blu-ray.
Screencaptures #31-36 are taken from the 4K Blu-ray.
Screencaptures 38-40 are taken from Pathe's R2 DVD release of Read My Lips.
I saw Read My Lips theatrically and liked it quite a lot, so when Pathe released it on DVD in France, I acquired it for my library. This was in 2002. (The French DVD release that is linked above is English-friendly). So, I was eager to see how Read My Lips looks after it was remastered in 4K on behalf of Pathe.
The 4K makeover is a significant upgrade in quality, when viewed in native 4K and 1080p, which should not be surprising considering that Pathe's R2 DVD release is more than two decades old. I spent pretty much an equal amount of time with Read My Lips on 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray, and on my system, delineation, clarity, and depth were always superior and very convincing. In fact, even when I upscaled the DVD release, its standard definition visuals were never even as remotely pleasing as the high-definition visuals that the 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray produced. The gap in quality was too big. Also, the density levels of the visuals in native 4K and 1080p are quite simply on an entirely different level. In native 4K, Read My Lips can be viewed with Dolby Vision and HDR grades. I chose to view it with HDR and was mostly pleased with how different areas looked. This said, I lean towards the 1080p presentation because the nightclub footage and the darker outdoor footage looked better on my system.
The new 4K makeover alters how certain areas of the film have looked in the past. It teals the nighttime blues and some daylight grays and whites. However, Read My Lips has always had a contemporary appearance with some light teal featured in it. The biggest change is the removal of certain blues and blues nuances, and leaving a very light layer of tealing to linger throughout the entire film. A lot of contemporary 4K makeovers are done this way, and trained eyes will easily recognize the effects of this trend here.
In summary, the 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray offer the healthiest presentations of Read My Lips that I have seen to date. I think that most viewers will enjoy them. However, while pretty good, the 4K makeover is not an ideal replica of the film's theatrical appearance.
There is only one standard audio track on this release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.
The lossless 5.1 track is a revelation. It is not only because it eliminated the PAL speeding that is present on my R2 DVD release of Read My Lips. There are various sequences with interesting effects that simply sound much better now. Also, the lossless 5.1 track produces dynamic contrasts that are far superior. Finally, I prefer the English translation and the size of the English subtitles on the combo pack. On the R2 DVD release, the English subtitles have an electronic quality that is not ideal.
Commentary - this archival audio commentary was recorded by Vincent Cassel and Emmanuelle Devos in 2002 first appeared on Pathe's R2 DVD release of Read My Lips. Cassel and Devos discuss the characters they play and how various parts of the film were shot, as well as their interactions with Jacques Audiard. The commentary is in French, but optional English subtitles are provided for it.
BLU-RAY DISC
Commentary - this archival audio commentary was recorded by Vincent Cassel and Emmanuelle Devos in 2002 first appeared on Pathe's R2 DVD release of Read My Lips. Cassel and Devos discuss the characters they play and how various parts of the film were shot, as well as their interactions with Jacques Audiard. The commentary is in French, but optional English subtitles are provided for it.
Afterword by Jacques Audiard - in this new program, Jacques Audiard discusses the conception and production of Read My Lips. The program was produced for Criterion in 2025. In French, with English subtitles. (13 min).
Revisiting "Read My Lips" - in this recent program, Jacques Audiard, screenwriter Tonino Benacquista, and cinematographer Mathieu Vadepied recall their collaboration on Read My Lips. The program was produced in 2024. In French, with English subtitles. (42 min).
Alexandre Desplat - in this archival program, composer Alexandre Desplat discusses his professional relationship with Jacques Audiard and the score he created for Read My Lips. The program was produced in 2002. In French, with English subtitles. (15 min).
Deleted Scenes - presented here are several deleted scenes, a few of which can be viewed with an optional audio commentary by Jacques Audiard. In French, with English subtitles. (10 min).
Trailer - presented here is an original French theatrical trailer for Read My Lips. In French, with English subtitles. (2 min).
Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring critic Ginette Vincendeau's essay "The Tip of the Tongue", as well as techncial credits.
Jacques Audiard's best work is in his four neo-noir thrillers: See How They Fall, Read My Lips, The Beat That My Heart Skipped, and A Prophet. There are different reasons for this, but I think that the biggest is that it is where the influence of his famous father, Michel, is most prominent and unmissable. Read My Lips is a film I like quite a lot, so I was very much looking forward to upgrading my DVD release of it. The new 4K makeover created for it under the supervision of Audiard and cinematographer Mathieu Vadepied is easy to describe as good, but it could have been more faithful. RECOMMENDED.
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The Criterion Collection has announced its September batch of 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray releases. They are:
High and Low(1963), This Is Spinal Tap (1984), The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005), Read My Lips (2001), Flow (2024), and Born in Flames (1983).