Eamonn Bowles' new USdistributor Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights (excludingFrench-speaking Canada) to Jacques Audiard's award-winning French film SurMes Levres (Read My Lips) starring Vincent Cassel and Emmanuelle Devos.

Sur Mes Levres, which won three Cesar awards in Paris earlier thismonth including best actress for Devos, is a thriller about a power strugglebetween a downtrodden secretary and an ex-con she hires as a trainee at herwork. It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year and played in thePanorama section at Berlin as well as the opening night of the recentRendezvous With French Cinema in New York.

Magnolia plans to releasethe film in the late summer. The deal was negotiated by Bowles and vicepresident of acquisitions and distribution Ryan Werner with Pathe's headof sales Pascal Diot on behalf of producers Philippe Carcassonne and Jean-LouisLivi.

Sur Mes Levres joins a lineup of releases from Magnolia includingHarry Shearer's comedy Teddy Bears Picnic (set for release on May 29), DoverKoshashvili's Israeli romantic comedy Late Marriage (May 17) and Rakhshan Bani Etemad's Iraniandrama Under The Skin Of The City(fall).