The Reader (1988 film)
| The Reader | |
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French poster
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| Directed by | Michel Deville |
| Produced by | Rosalinde Deville |
| Screenplay by | Michel Deville Rosalinde Deville |
| Based on |
La Lectrice by Raymond Jean |
| Starring |
Miou-Miou Régis Royer María Casares Patrick Chesnais Marianne Denicourt |
| Music by | Ludwig van Beethoven |
| Cinematography | Dominique Le Rigoleur |
| Edited by | Raymonde Guyot |
| Distributed by | Acteurs Auteurs Associés |
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Release date
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Running time
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97 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
The Reader (French: La Lectrice) is a 1988 French film directed by Michel Deville. The film won that year's Louis Delluc Prize, and was nominated for nine César Awards including Best Supporting Actor, won by Patrick Chesnais.
Constance is a young French woman who is dissatisfied with her mundane life but has a talent for reading stories to others. As the movie opens, she is reading a book called La Lectrice to her boyfriend, in which the main character, a woman named Marie, reads literature to others for a living. She becomes engrossed in the book to the point that she begins imagining herself as Marie: Constance and Marie are played by Miou-Miou, and the movie weaves back and forth between their stories.
Marie embarks on her new profession with gusto. As she reads to her clients, all of whom are seeking a little more than the solace of literature, she works a fantastical transformation on them. Her clients include the widow of a Marxist general (María Casares), a nervous businessman (Patrick Chesnais), a retired magistrate, and a handicapped teenage boy. Soon the clients' friends and families become involved, as does her professor (Christian Blanc). The general's widow's maidservant and the boy's friends from school become affected by the readings, and Constance has an affair with the businessman. Books read include The Lover (by Marguerite Duras, read to the sexually frustrated businessman), and the works of Marquis de Sade (read to the judge and his libertine friends).
Deville explores themes that not only consider literature, but the cinema too. This playfully self-reflexive tone is reinforced in the Chinese boxes-like structure of the narrative. There are multiple layers of story, and actors play multiple parts.
The film was selected as the French entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 61st Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
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