La cérémonie

The upper-class owner of a gallery Catherine Lelievre (Jacqueline Bisset) hires the efficient and quiet maid Sophie Bonhomme (Sandrine Bonnaire) for working in the family manor in the countryside of France. Her husband Georges Lelievre (Jean-Pierre Cassel), who is an opera lover, her daughter Melinda (Virginie Ledoyen) and her teenage son Gilles (Valentin Merlet) welcome Sophie and appreciate her work. Soon Sophie befriends the postmistress Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert), who is a social outcast, and she encourages Sophie to rebel against her employers, but the maid stays submissive. However, Sophie is ashamed of a secret and feels uncomfortable in many situations, finding a way to hide her secret. When Georges tells to Sophie that he does not want Jeanne in his house, Sophie stands up against him. Melinda discovers her secret and Sophie blackmails her, but Melinda tells her parents what has happened. Georges fires Sophie and she returns to the house later with Jeanne on the rampage with tragic consequences.

"La Cérémonie" is one of the best films by Claude Chabrol and it is still impressive after watching many years after the release. The poignant story of class conflict, alienation and even evilness of two outcast working-class women stays in the mind of the viewer since it might happen to anyone that has a maid at home. The unexpected violent conclusion is probably the source of inspiration for Michael Haneke's "Funny Games" (1997). It is impossible to the viewer to be not affected by the despicable and cruel behavior of the repressed Sophie and the envious Jeanne. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Mulheres Diabólicas" ("Evil Women")

Note: On 21 April 1999, I saw this film again.

Note On 08 May 2017, I saw this film again.

Note: On 08 January 2025, I saw this film again.

A rich French family hires a mousy maid who has some peculiar traits. It starts out as a nice character study, with Bonnaire creating a sympathetic figure as a young woman who struggles with her illiteracy but is too ashamed to to let anyone know about it. In the last act, however, the film goes south, turning into a silly thriller. The ending is particularly contrived and ridiculous. Bonnaire is quite good as the maid, as is Bisset (speaking in French) as her kindly employer. In fact the whole cast is fine. Chabrol is regarded as the French Hitchcock, but he lacks the master's skill for building suspense with wit and subtlety.

The performances were fine, Huppert in particular was a lot of fun to watch, but the camera direction was awful, completely chilly and remote like the worst of Haneke's work. The remove and coldness, this intentional distance leaving room for judgment from the filmmaker (and the audience) rather than more fluid and closer shots encouraging closeness and empathy, really made the whole thing lackluster, at best. Also, there were some very heavy handed and poorly drawn moments used to bash us over the head with the weight of Sophie's secret. Having not read the source material, I'll reserve my opinions on the script, but it felt to me like a completely uninspired outing and can only imagine Chabrol took the job only for the money as he seemed to never find anything that interested him in the story.

I see this movie for the third time and can't prevent myself to notice the pure Claude Chabrol style in the critic of the rich people, especially in the province. But the ending is very bloody and surprising too. And in the mean time, since my last viewing, I saw PARASITES and I can't also prevent myself to see a thin line between the two features. If you have seen both features, you see what I mean. A pure delight.

I watched this on video without reading the plot summary on the video box (or the user comments here), and I highly recommend seeing it without knowing too much about the plot. It is a gripping, Hitchcockesque character portrayal that slowly builds great tension and a sense of foreboding. Let all the clever foreshadowing pique your imagination; the ending will be that much more effective.