Diary of a Chambermaid (1964) on Netflix
Célestine, a stylish chambermaid from Paris, takes a post at a provincial estate in late 1920s France. The Monteil household includes Joseph, the groom, and elderly Monsieur Rabour.
- Netflix4.0/5
- IMDb7.3/1010,651 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes87%
Trailer
Plot summary
A sophisticated and self-assured woman from Paris joins a middle-class rural estate as a maid and causes quite a stir among the variously uptight, perverse and violent inhabitants.
—Chris Kirk
Celestine, the chambermaid, has new job on the country. The Monteils, who she works for are a group of strange people. The wife is frigid, her husband is always hunting (both animals and women) and her father is a shoe-fetishist. Joseph, the farm-labourer is a fascist and sexually attracted to Celestine. Celestine settles herself and talks to the neighbour, an ex-officer, who likes damaging his neighbour's things. After the death of the old man, she quits her job, but because of the rape and murder of a child 'Little Claire' she decides to stay, believing that Joseph is the murderer. To get his confession she sleeps with him and promises to marry him. In spite of her engagement she fakes evidence to implicate him in the murder. He is arrested, but is released because the evidence is inconclusive. She marries the ex-officer and takes on a housewife role similar to that of Madame Monteil.
Cast
- Claude Jaegeras Le Juge
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Diary of a Chambermaid (1964)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Diary of a Chambermaid was first intended as a vehicle for Mexican actress Silvia Pinal, who had starred in Buñuel's Viridiana and The Exterminating Angel. Pinal learned French and was willing to work for free, but the French producers cast Jeanne Moreau instead.
- In the film's final scene, marching rightists shout "Vive Chiappe", a reference to the Paris police chief who stopped Luis Buñuel's 1930 film L'Âge d'Or from being shown after the theater screening it was destroyed by Fascists.
- Diary of a Chambermaid was the first screenwriting collaboration between Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière, who reworked Octave Mirbeau's 1900 novel. The pair went on to write Belle de Jour, The Milky Way, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Liberty and That Obscure Object of Desire.
