Le journal d'une femme de chambre (1964)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Luis Buñuel

Writers:

Luis Buñuel (writer)
Jean-Claude Carrière (writer)

Release Date:

9 March 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

Celestine, the chambermaid has new job on the country. The Monteils, who she works for are a group of strange people...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Rape | Fascist | Chambermaid | Feud

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Jeanne Moreau	...	Céléstine
Georges Géret	...	Joseph
Daniel Ivernel	...	Captain Mauger
Françoise Lugagne	...	Madame Monteil
Muni	...	Marianne
Jean Ozenne	...	Monsieur Rabour
Michel Piccoli	...	Monsieur Monteil
Joëlle Bernard
Françoise Bertin
Aline Bertrand
Pierre Collet
Michel Dacquid
Madeleine Damien
Marc Eyraud	...	Le secrétaire du commissaire
Jean Franval

Also Known As:

Diary of a Chambermaid (USA)
Il diario di una cameriera (Italy)
The Diary of a Chambermaid (UK)
El diario de una camarera (Mexico) (Spain) (Uruguay) [es]
Diario de una camarera (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Tagebuch einer Kammerzofe (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Deník komorné (Czechoslovakia: Czech title) [cs]
Denník komornej (Czechoslovakia: Slovak title) [sk]
Diário de uma Camareira (Brazil) [pt]
Diario de uma Criada de Quarto (Portugal) [pt]
Dziennik panny sluzacej (Poland) [pl]
Egy szobalány naplója (Hungary) [hu]
En kammarjungfrus dagbok (Sweden) [sv]
En kammerpiges dagbog (Denmark) [da]
En kammerpikes dagbok (Norway) [no]
Het dagboek van een kamermeisje (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
Jurnalul unei cameriste (Romania) [ro]
Kamarineidon päiväkirja (Finland) [fi]
To imerologio mias kamarieras (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

101 min | France:97 min | Brazil:94 min | Argentina:97 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | Ireland:12 (DVD rating) | UK:12 (video rating) (2001) | UK:15 (video rating) (1993) | UK:AA (original rating) (1981) | West Germany:12 (w)

Filming Locations:

Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, France

Company:

Ciné-Alliance

Trivia:

The demonstrating fascists shout "Vive Chiappe", a homage to the chief of the Parisian police who prohibited showing director Luis Buñuel's earlier film L'âge d'or (1930) after fascists destroyed the cinema where it was being shown.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Chappaqua (1966)

A brilliant performance from Jean Moreau is just one of many highlights in what could be Bunuel's most underrated movie.

Bunuel's 'Diary Of A Chambermaid' was released in between two of his surreal masterpieces 'The Exterminating Angel' and 'Simon Of The Desert'. It is, on the surface at least, a lot more conventional as either of those, maybe that's why it doesn't get as much attention as it deserves. I don't know why it is rarely mentioned when people discuss the very best of Bunuel, but for me it's almost as great as 'Viridiana' and 'Belle De Jour'. The story was previously filmed by Renoir in the 1940s, but I haven't seen that version, so I can't say how different Bunuel's approach to the material is. As Bunuel claimed not to have seen it either I don't feel so bad. Jean Moreau, the beautiful star of Truffaut's 'Jules And Jim' and countless other Euro art film favourites, gives a brilliant performance as the enigmatic Celestine, maid to The Monteils, a very odd family living in pre-War France. Bunuel includes some of his usual comments about sexual deviance, and France's future under the Nazi occupation haunts the whole film, but what is most interesting to me about the picture is its subtlety and ambiguity. Like 'Belle De Jour' I think each repeated viewing will reveal more, and opinions on its meaning will depend on the individual viewer. Personally I'm still exploring Bunuel's extraordinary body of work. It is exciting doing so. I've probably only seen a third of his output so far, but I've yet to see a movie made by him that is less than fascinating. 'Diary Of A Chambermaid' just might be his most underrated film. I highly recommend it.