La Lectrice (1988)
Directed by Michel Deville

Comedy / Drama / Romance

Film Review

Abstract picture representing La Lectrice (1988)
This is a film which is not just about the pleasure of reading but also about the power it has to alter our perception of the world, offering us new experiences which can be as profound as anything in real life.  It is a bizarre thing to say, but watching this film is strangely like reading a book.  The way in which the film draws its viewer into its subject is as subtle and effective as if it were a well written novel.

One peculiarity of the film is the way in which the viewer is led to identify him or herself with the reader, Constantine, who identifies herself with the reader Marie, who, in turn, identifies herself with her clients.  This Russian doll nesting of world within worlds provides an unsettlingly unfamiliar yet ultimately pleasurable cinematic experience.

Michel Deville's quirky brand of comedy is helped along with a captivating performance from Miou-Miou, providing some moments of genuine hilarity.  There are some splendid contributions from Patrick Chesnais and veteran actress Maria Casarès, whose O.T.T. performances provide a perfect foil to Miou-Miou's subtle yet far from innocent portrayal of Marie.
© James Travers 2000
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Michel Deville film:
Nuit d'été en ville (1990)

Film Synopsis

Jean listens attentively as his attractive girlfriend Constance reads to him a book about a young woman, Marie, whose greatest passion is reading.  Marie's love of the printed word leads her to take up a career as a professional book reader, and she has no shortage of clients after she has placed an ad in the newspaper.  Her first customer is Éric, a young man who is confined to a wheelchair.  Marie's reading of Guy de Maupassant and Baudelaire fires the young man's erotic fantasies and reawakens his zest for living.  Then there is the strange old widow, the former wife of a Hungarian general, who thrives on Russian literature, in particular Marx and Tolstoy.  With Marie's help, a little girl named Coralie is transported to join Alice in her adventures in Wonderland and an old magistrate gets his pornographic kicks from Sade's more lubricious passages.  Much as Marie enjoys her work, it inevitably brings her into conflict with her jealous boyfriend Pierre and a suspicious police officer, neither of whom understand the nature of the service she is providing.  Having finished reading her book, Constance makes up her mind to follow Marie's example...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.


Film Credits

  • Director: Michel Deville
  • Script: Raymond Jean (novel), Michel Deville, Rosalinde Deville
  • Cinematographer: Dominique Le Rigoleur
  • Cast: Miou-Miou (Constance), Régis Royer (Eric), María Casares (General's Widow), Patrick Chesnais (Company Director), Pierre Dux (Magistrate), Christian Ruché (Jean), Brigitte Catillon (Eric's Mother), Marianne Denicourt (Bella), Charlotte Farran (Coralie), Clotilde de Bayser (Coralie's Mother), Jean-Luc Boutté (Police Inspector), Simon Eine (Hospital Professor), Maria de Medeiros (L'infirmière muette), André Wilms (Man in Rue Saint-Landry), Bérangère Bonvoisin (Joel's Mother), Sylvie Laporte (Françoise), Léo Campion (Le grand-père), Hito Jaulmes (L'Ami d'Eric), Michel Raskine (Man at Agency), Isabelle Janier (L'infirmière bavarde)
  • Country: France
  • Language: French
  • Support: Color
  • Runtime: 98 min

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