Main Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Michel Piccoli, Georges Géret, Francoise Lugagne, Daniel Ivernel, Jean Ozenne
Release Year: 1964
Country: IT/FR
Run Time: 97 minutes
Plot
The second screen version of Octave Mirbeau's novel (originally filmed in 1946 by Jean Renoir), Diary of a Chambermaid charts the ambitions of Celestine (Jeanne Moreau), a woman who comes to work in the 1930s for a Normandy estate occupied by Monsieur Rabour (Jean Ozenne), his daughter (Francoise Lugagne), and the daughter's husband, Monsieur Montiel (Michel Piccoli). Celestine quickly learns that M. Rabour is a more or less harmless boot fetishist, his daughter a frigid woman more concerned with the family furnishings than in returning the affections of her husband, who, in turn, can't keep his hands off the servants. The gamekeeper, Joseph (Georges Geret), is a fascist who keeps his masters informed of all the doings downstairs, and the next-door neighbor (Daniel Ivernel) is a veteran who can't stand Monteil and is sharing a bed with his housekeeper. Celestine picks her way through this minefield carefully, spurning the advances of all of the men until it's convenient for her. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
Review
Starting with Viridiana, Luis Bunuel embarked on an amazing run of great films. Somehow, this gem seems to get overlooked amid the praise for The Exterminating Angel, Belle de Jour, The Discreet Charm of the Bouregoisie, and other masterworks. Octave Mirbeau's 1900 novel got a significant update by Bunuel and co-writer Jean-Claude Carriere (who plays the village curé in one scene), as they made the growing tide of fascism in '30s France a strong undercurrent in the proceedings. Celestine, the sharp-witted servant, soon understands that the person in her new house she has the most to fear is not any of her employers; it is Joseph, the gamekeeper who is always railing about the Jews and rules his fellow servants through intimidation. Just as Celestine is about to abandon her post, a crime provides her with a mission. She alone understands Joseph's dark heart and his complicity in the deed, and she sets out a dangerous course. The film is full of Bunuel's usual droll observations about the bourgeois. "Servants don't count," declares one of the story's many lecherous men, but in the end, Celestine gets her way with that character, though her victory is bittersweet. The story's ironic epilogue is typical of Bunuel's jaded view of the world, in which evil will always find a way to flourish. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
Diary of a Chambermaid (French: Le journal d'une femme de chambre) is a 1964 film. It is one of several French films made by Spanish-born filmmaker Luis Buñuel but lacks the surrealist imagery of his other films. It stars Jeanne Moreau as a chambermaid who discovers her ability to influence the lives of her masters.
