Diary of a Chambermaid (2015 film)
| Diary of a Chambermaid | |
|---|---|
Film poster
|
|
| Directed by | Benoît Jacquot |
| Produced by | Jean-Pierre Guérin Kristina Larsen Delphine Tomson Luc Dardenne Jean-Pierre Dardenne |
| Screenplay by | Benoît Jacquot Hélène Zimmer |
| Based on |
The Diary of a Chambermaid by Octave Mirbeau |
| Starring |
Léa Seydoux Vincent Lindon |
| Music by | Bruno Coulais |
| Cinematography | Romain Winding |
| Edited by | Julia Grégory |
|
Production
company |
Les Films du Lendemain
JPG Films Les Films du Fleuve |
| Distributed by | Mars Distribution |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
95 minutes |
| Country | France Belgium |
| Language | French |
| Budget | €7.5 million |
| Box office | $4.2 million |
Diary of a Chambermaid (French: Journal d'une femme de chambre) is a 2015 French drama film directed by Benoît Jacquot, and written by Jacquot and Hélène Zimmer. It is an adaptation of Octave Mirbeau's 1900 novel of the same name and stars Léa Seydoux as Célestine, a young and ambitious woman who works as a chambermaid for a wealthy couple in France during the early twentieth century.
It was screened in the main competition section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival and was released on 1 April 2015, by Mars Distribution.
In Normandy at the end of the 19th Century, a beautiful and ambitious young chambermaid named Célestine (Lea Seydoux) enters the service of her new employers, the Lanlaire family, which consists of a bitter wife and her perverted husband. Monsieur Lanlaire has a reputation for molesting and impregnating his chambermaids, while Madame Lanlaire is known for her domineering attitude over her servants and often fires her chambermaids. She also meets the other servants: Marianne, the overweight and homely cook and the mysterious, older Joseph (Vincent Lindon), the groom, who shares a mutual attraction with Célestine.
Throughout the film, Célestine reflects on her past positions, such as to a middle-aged woman with an elderly husband who was humiliated at a train customs stop after being forced to open a box revealing her dildo. Another significant post was her satisfying employment with the sickly young Georges and his kindly grandmother. Georges became infatuated with Célestine as she took care of him and after resisting his advances at first, Célestine has sex with him, only for him to succumb to his illness and die during the act, horrifying her. Numb from the experience, she leaves the position.
In the Lanlaire household, Célestine chafes under the demanding and often unreasonable Madame Lanlaire, who frequently derides Célestine for any delay or error and refuses to let her attend the funeral of her mother. Monsieur Lanlaire quickly sets his sights on Célestine, who rebuffs his advances while secretly plotting to manipulate him. The neighbor, Captain Mauger (Patrick d'Assumçao), who has apparently bequeathed his estate to the servant, Rose after his wife left him for sleeping with her, is also interested in her. Célestine also plots to use Capt Mauger for her own ambitions, but Rose becomes jealous after Capt Mauger kills his obedient pet ferret named Kleber after a comment Célestine makes about the pet.
...
Wikipedia