LE JOURNAL D'UNE FEMME DE CHAMBRE (1964) (DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID) (1964) A Film Review Copyright Dragan Antulov 2000
In one of Marty Mystere comic books a shady character of a tough mercenary reveals his intellectual side by quoting a scene from Luis Bu¤uel film. This scene, as surreal as some of Bu¤uel movies, strengthens the perception of Bu¤uel's work being appreciated only by intellectuals, snobs or art-oriented audience. Bu¤uel's lack of popularity among the mainstream audience could be explained by his early works in late 1920s, which branded his films as too shocking and utterly beyond the comprehension of an average moviegoer. This is quite a shame, since Bu¤uel in his latter years mixed his trademark surrealism with irony and dark humour more suitable for this cynical, nihilistic age. Perhaps the best introduction to the works of Bu¤uel is DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID, his 1964 film that, at least superficially, looks more mainstream than others. It lacks most of Bu¤uel's surrealism and is actually a remake of a 1946 Hollywood film.
The plot, based on the novel by Octave Mirbeau, takes place in rural France in early 1930s. Celestine (played by Jeanne Moreau) is chambermaid from Paris who comes to work in the house of local middle-class family. It patron, old Monsieur Rabour (played by Jean Ozenne) has developed a bizarre shoe fetish. His daughter, Madame Monteil (played by Fran‡oise Lugagne) spends most of her time locked in the room where she performs strange experiments while her husband, Monsieur Monteil (played by Michel Piccoli) has a nasty habit of impregnating every woman who works in their household. All local men are attracted to Celestine who is viewed as sexually "experienced" woman from big city. That includes servant Joseph (played by George Geret), whose fascist views are as revolting as his unhealthy desires towards little girls. Celestine is quite aware of that, so she starts manipulating men's desires for her own benefit.
Those who expect Bu¤uel's trademark surrealism in this film would be greeted with quite the opposite. DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID is almost cinema verite film, shot in black-and-white photography and without original music. However, thanks to characters, written by Jean-Claude Carriere (who appears in the film in small role of a priest), touch of Bu¤uel is quite evident. Nobody in this film, regardless of their class or gender, is spared from irony, dark humour and morally ambiguous characterisation. Although church and bourgeoisie remain Bu¤uel's favourite targets, this film gives harsh, unforgiving portrayal of the society in general; in case of 1930s France its short-sightedness, selfishness and corruption paved way to the rise of fascism and ultimate disaster. In this film Bu¤uel is also one of the first filmmakers to explicitly link fascism with sexual perversion - motive that would become quite popular in European cinema of 1970s.
The acting in this film is superb. Jeanne Moreau plays a manipulative character that deliberately projects different image (obedient employee, bad girl, righteous avenger) to different persons, and such task is accomplished with great ease. The other actors are also very good, since they create a lot of laughs without turning their characters into caricatures. Bu¤uel's work here is, however, short of masterpiece. The cinema verite approach made this film rather visually unattractive. Passage of time in the film isn't adequately hinted, so some viewers might get confused. Finally, the last scene in the film is too cryptic, at least for those who aren't familiar with some details of Bu¤uel's biography. But, DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID is still a very good film that should serve as good introduction to the one of the world's greatest filmmakers.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
Review written on April 30th 2000
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax Fido: 2:381/100 E-mail: dragan.antulov@st.tel.hr E-mail: drax@purger.com E-mail: dragan.antulov@altbbs.fido.hr
Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in Croatian http://film.purger.com
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