 Starring: Jeanne Moreau, Georges Geret, Daniel Ivernel, Francoise Lugagne, Muni
Director: Luis Bunuel
Year Of Release: 1964
Plot: Celestine gets a job as a chambermaid on a country estate. She soon realises that the group of people she works for are eccentric and hung up on their sexual problems. The husband of the family is always hunting (either for animals or women), his wife is frigid, while her father has a foot fetish. However what initially seems like a simple dissection and indictment of bourgoise society turns dark after a child is raped and murdered and Celestine realises that in this world she can use the power of her sexuality to uncover the killer. |
Today I’m going to cheat and point you towards what someone else has written about Diary Of A Chambermaid. The reason is that when I was doing a bit of research into Bunuel’s film and trying to work out the best thing to write about it, I came across a review that pretty much sums up all I would say (and a bit more), in a more eloquent way than I could.
It is a fascinating movie, and although it initially just seems like it’s going to be yet another preaching-to-the-quire mid-20th European movie decrying the hypocrisy and excesses of the bourgeoisie, it turns far more interesting in the second half, when it become much darker and starts to explore whether a woman using her sexuality is empowered or degrading herself.
Anyway, if you’d like to know more about the film and what Bunuel was doing is this rare non-surreal work, I recommend you click here and head over to Eye For Film. I know I probably shouldn’t be pointing you to another British movie site, instead cheering for Movie Muser, but Eye For Film’s Diary Of A Chambermaid review is very good and well worth a read.
TIM ISAAC
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