DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID/JOURNAL D’UNE FEMME DE CHAMBRE

France, 2015, 96 minutes, Colour.
Lea Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Clotilde Mollet.
Directed by Benoit Jacquot.

Octave Mirabeau wrote the book on which this film is based at the turn of the 20th century, capturing the atmosphere of the 19th century in France, the new bourgeoisie, life in the provinces, the class distinctions of the period, the role of servants, the continuing atmosphere of revolution and the sexual mores of the period. The screenplay refers to the Dreyfus case, a reminder that this was the period of anti-Semitism.

The first version of this story was made by French director Jean Renoir in Hollywood with Paulette Goddard as Celestine, the chambermaid. In the 1960s, Luis Buñuel made his version with Jeanne Moreau in the title role. The films used black-and-white. This film is in colour, giving full value to the costumes, sets and decor of the period, aspects of life in Paris, the mansion in the provinces, the local inhabitants and their way of life.

The film is critical of the arrogance of the newly-rich and their use of their class superiority. Clotilde Mollet is very effective in the role of Madame, a bigoted and nasty woman who exploits the chambermaid – although, after all her treasures stolen, she gradually mellows. Her husband, the master of the house, is something of a nitwit as well as a womaniser.

Lea Seydoux, who appeared in the director’s Farewell to the Queen, and who also appeared in a number of films including Blue is the Warmest Colour, is sufficiently self-possessed and rather haughty in her own way as the chambermaid who finds faults with her employees but takes the position in the country house, muttering criticism under her breath, being used by Madame, but making friends with people in the village. Vincent Lindon is Joseph, seemingly devoted to the family for 15 years but who is secretly a revolutionary, stealing the money and possessions from the employers to finance his revolutionary cause, which is, very explicitly, anti-Semitic.

This is the kind of traditional filmmaking where everything is beautifully produced, film versions according to the style of the novels of the 19th and early 20th centuries, something which has an appeal for the public but which irritates film critics who want something more challenging.

1. The title, the classic by Octave Mirabeau? 19th-century France? The previous film versions?

2. The settings, Paris, the countryside, homes, the towns, travelling on the trains, church, the musical score?

3. The title, expectations, and issues of class, 100 years after the French Revolution, the rise of the bourgeoisie? Class , manners, domination, masters and servants?

4. The title, Lea Sydoux and her performance? Style? Manner? Her interior communicated by facial expressions and retaining expression? Her under the breath comments? Breton, her mother and the news of her death and some grief, many jobs, her being considered unreliable, but her efficiency, her snobbery as regards her work, the variety of jobs and her descriptions? The interview and the role of the interviewer, the suggestion of sexual favours for masters?

5. Accepting the job, leaving Paris, the train journey, Joseph meeting her, his being laconic? Meeting Madame, in the red dress, the talk, orders, her precious possessions? Monsieur, his arrival, everything being excellent? Getting Celestine to remove his boots, his advances, her reaction?

6. Celestine, her work, reaction to Madame, her ringing the bell, getting the needle, the thread, the scissors, running up and down stairs? Setting the table? The train, Madame having to open her box with the dildo? Going to church, singing hymns? Meeting Rose, the captain and his eccentricities, friendship and gossip? Rose and her dislike of Celestine’s employers?

7. Marianne, the cook, the food, talking, getting more friendly with Celestine, her pregnancy, the explanation of the master’s behaviour, Joseph and his relationship, his work, consistency, not talking, reading the paper?

8. Life in the house, the various routines, the attention to detail?

9. The grandmother, her consumptive grandson, treating Celestine well, her room, looking after Georges, his swimming, the heart, the sexual attraction,
the encounter, his death, the blood? Funeral? Not staying with the grandmother?

10. The women gossiping, the story of Claire being killed and raped in the forest? Suspects?

11. Joseph, talking with Celestine, his plan, working 15 years? His anti-Semitism? The Dreyfus case? His attraction towards Celestine? The plan, the finances for his cause, the robbery and the details, the aftermath, his resignation, the plan for the rendezvous and Celestine leaving?

12. Celestine and Madame after the robbery, more friendly, Madame losing all her treasures?

13. Joseph and Celestine, going off, their future?

14. The portrait of the period, manners and morals?