La camarista

A maid in a Mexico City hotel hopes to move up the ladder.

This is a well made, engrossing film about what happens behind the scenes and when you are not in your hotel room. The main character named Eve is a 24 year old single mother who wants to get her GED and get a better paying job in the hotel. There are several interesting shots of her looking very small among the mounds of linen as she cleans rooms, there is an astounding shot of her on the roof as well. She has some interesting and bizarre encounters with guests and co workers. This is no Hollywood fairy tale like Jennifer Lopez in "Maid In Manhattan". This is a realistic view into a snapshot of life not many get to see. Although it is a fictional scripted movie it reminded me of the great documentaries by Frederick Wiseman. I always felt that seeing normal everyday people going about their day are fascinating, and it held my interest the whole time. I hope more people will seek this out, especially if you like your films real and quietly effective that avoids all Hollywood cliches.

Which is why I can see many English users saying they think the movie is flat. A very good movie.

La Camarista (The Chambermaid, 2019) by mexican director Lila Avilés is a film that shows a level of freedom within the confines of a restricted budget that is just mindblowing.

If you read the rest of the reviews around here you will get a sense of the style it's shot: the camera, using beautiful cinematography, is a passive witness to a hotel chambermaid's daily routine. There is no spectacularity, not an earthquake to shatter the main character, she's never accused of stealing stuff... There's no dramatic trigger to turn this story into a powerhouse drama. Instead, Avilés chooses, wisely, to dwell on her star's nuanced but effective performance. Gabriela Cartol's Evelina (the maid in the title) is a shy, dreamy and sometimes annoying woman. A real person instead of a stereotype. We're not here to lament her poverty, but to join her daily conversations, her momentary daydreaming, her spirit breaking apart or becoming stronger.

Avilés is not interested on bringing disaster into her characters' lives. She doesn't want them to unravel, instead we're drawn into this colossal universe of a big city hotel and breaks into its small spaces and corners, revealing beauty in routine.

An overall enjoyable experience for audiences who relish subtlety, La Camarista manages to feel as a refreshing take on a cliché subject.

The Chambermaid is a beautifully quiet look at a hotel housekeeper's daily existence. The film's narrative line is simple, yet the complexity of Gabriel Cartol's lead performance was stunning.

Anyone that has worked a menial or underappreciated job will appreciate the frustrating workplace dynamics where schmoozers who blow their own horn sometimes get ahead of quiet hardworking people.

In addition the film maker's symbolism of red and white shown in parallel construction was also striking.

I rather liked this film. Nothing happens in it that could be said to constitute a plot in the classical sense, but that is the point. The protagonist leads a desultory life, working only to survive and lacking any real means for freeing herself from the daily grind. Her relationships to her co-workers and the people whom she serves are temporary and devoid of any lasting significance. In some ways, her situation reflects that of many workers at every stratum of society. The difference is that she does not have very many options available and will probably continue to clean rooms until the day she dies.