Retrospective: Diary of a Chambermaid (1964)
Dragan Antulov
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....@st.tel.hr
E-mail: dr...@purger.com
E-mail: dragan....@altbbs.fido.hr
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