La lectrice

The basic virtue of this beautiful film is to preserve and use, in beautiful manner, all the flavors of the novel. The second, no doubts, Miou - Miou. But she can not be exactly surprising. A film about books and the adventures having the books as seeds. More precise, a film about freedom.

Our heroine Constance (played by Miou-Miou in yet another role where she seems to play the same character as always...herself) turns her passion for literature into an exciting and profitable "profession". Her little newspaper advertisement eventually brings her a variety of eccentric clients who take advantage of this young woman's services (literally). Hired to read to the disabled, the elderly and the bored, Constance creates, fulfills and participates in her employers' fantasies and peculiar dreams. Warned by the clerk who helped her with the initial advertisement not to be surprised if her ventures yield complications and trouble, Constance seems to not only meet the challenge, but to enjoy the sense of danger and surprise.

The degree of tolerance and acceptance of human sexuality displayed in this film may appear over-the-top to viewers unfamiliar with French culture, and French society's extremely liberal social mores. This film was produced in the 1980s, not the 60s (you'd never know it). The "anything goes" mentality is likely to perplex the average viewer, and it may even offend some. The twisted freshness and daring situations eventually seem gratuitous. We "get it" pretty early on, yet the soft-core peep show continues throughout the film. The intertwining of actual literary passages and storyline are fascinating. Unfortunately my fascination with this film ends there.

Our protagonist, played by Miou-Miou, is a mischievous, whimsical and smart young woman who is looking for an occupation that will engage her. The adventures she has during her fantasies of what the job as a travelling reader would be, are charming little trips that we take with her. This is a smart and engaging little film. I dare you to not fall in love with her or this film.

Even the most ardent bibliophiles have to set aside their books when the theater lights go down, but this playful French import at least offers some consolation, in a sense attempting to approximate with the written word what Juzo Itami did with noodles and egg yolk in 'Tampopo'. One of the joys of a good book is of course the vicarious thrill of escapism, something Miou-Miou discovers firsthand while reading Raymond Jean's novel (of the same name as the film) and imagining herself as its protagonist: a professional reader who finds her choice of books somehow reflecting the idiosyncrasies of each client. This is clearly a film working on several levels at once, but a refresher course in European literature may be required to fully appreciate it. The visual scheme is offbeat and arresting, bringing the pages of each selected novel to colorful life, but the script is perhaps too infatuated with its own love of language, creating an elegant and infuriating puzzle where the patterns of each separate piece are more attractive than the finished picture.

One evening in bed a young woman (Miou-Miou) begins to read a book called "La Lectrice" to her husband. It tells the story of Marie (Miou-Miou again), who decides to place an advert in her local newspaper offering her services as a reader. This results in her being hired by a wide range of the town's inhabitants, often with unexpected results. A teenage boy in a wheelchair (Regis Royer) asks her to read Maupassant and Baudelaire; the Hungarian widow of a general (Maria Cazares) selects her favourite passages from the works of Marx and Lenin; a businessman (Patrick Chesnais) with no time to read seems to be more interested in Marie than in the book she is reading; a young girl (Charlotte Farran) whose mother is too busy to read to her requests Alice In Wonderland. The town's authorities are constantly suspicious of Marie's new profession and the strange effect it seems to be having on some of her clients.

The complex structure of the film is a delight, constantly switching between scenes involving Marie and her clients and those from the books she is reading. Strong sensual overtones emerge as some of the clients confuse the services Marie is offering with those they imagine she is offering.

Miou-Miou is excellent in the role of Marie, the southern town of Arles in winter looks magnificent, and the whole thing is driven along by the music of Beethoven. The overall effect is to heighten the viewer's interest in books and reading and make them want to seek out some of the books included in the film. Highly recommended for bibliophiles everywhere.