Une femme de ménage (2002)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Claude Berri

Writers:

Claude Berri (writer)
Christian Oster (book)

Release Date:

13 November 2002 (Belgium)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

After his wife leaves him for another man, Jacques hires a housekeeper, Laura, to keep his Paris apartment in order...

Plot Keywords:

Housekeeper | Paris | Beach Volleyball | Chicken | Housemaid

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Jean-Pierre Bacri	...	Jacques
Émilie Dequenne	...	Laura
Brigitte Catillon	...	Claire
Jacques Frantz	...	Ralph
Axelle Abbadie	...	Helene
Catherine Breillat	...	Constance
Apollinaire Louis-Philippe Dogue	...	Ernest, le barman
Amalric Gérard	...	Julien
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nathalie Boutefeu	...	Jeune fille au concert
Laurence Colussi	...	Femme à la terrasse
Djura	...	Chanteuse
Daniel Humair	...	Musicien
Xavier Maly	...	Assistant de Jacques
Pierre Michelot	...	Musicien
Abel Nahmias	...	Le voisin
René Urtreger	...	Musicien

Directed by
Claude Berri

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Claude Berri		writer
Christian Oster		book

Produced by
Claude Berri	....	producer
Pierre Grunstein	....	executive producer
Nathalie Rheims	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Frédéric Botton

Cinematography by
Eric Gautier

Film Editing by
François Gédigier

Casting by
Gérard Moulévrier

Production Design by
Hoang Thanh At

Art Direction by
James David Goldmark

Costume Design by
Corinne Jorry

Production Management
François-Xavier Bazin	....	unit manager
Aimeric Bonello	....	unit manager
Nicole Firn	....	production manager
Olivier Lagny	....	unit production manager
Jerome Pinot	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Thierry Mauvoisin	....	first assistant director
Emmanuel Murat	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Philippe Boulenouar	....	construction manager
Frédéric Jourdan	....	carpenter
Yvon Moreno	....	property master
Jochen Rohrig	....	carpenter

Sound Department
Pascal Chauvin	....	foley artist
Michel Filippi	....	adr supervisor
Vincent Goujon	....	boom operator
Eric Grattepain	....	foley artist
Gérard Lamps	....	sound re-recording mixer
Nadine Muse	....	sound
Laurent Poirier	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
François Berroir	....	gaffer
Bernard Brégier	....	key grip
Xavier Cholet	....	electrician
Patrick de Ranter	....	Steadicam operator
Etienne George	....	still photographer
Eric Gies	....	electrician
Jean-François Grancher	....	best boy rigger
Tom Mitaux	....	electrician
Ludovic Petit	....	electrician

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Maira Ramedhan Lévy	....	costumes

Editorial Department
Gwenola Heaulme	....	assistant editor
Isabelle Julien	....	color timer
Lucile Sautarel	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Hélène Sebillotte	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Canal+
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC)
• Renn Productions
• TF1 Films Production

Distributors

• Fox Pathé Europa (2003) (France) (DVD)
• Maison Descartes (2003) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Mongrel Media (2003) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Palm Pictures (2003) (USA) (subtitled)
• Pathé

Also Known As:

A Housekeeper (International: English title)
The Housekeeper (USA) (review title)
I oikiaki voithos (Greece) [el]

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexuality/nudity and brief language.

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Australia:M | France:U | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | USA:R

Company:

Canal+

Goofs:

Continuity: At the end of the film, goes for a swim. When she returns to the beach, she is wearing a completely different bathing suit.

Lite-Housekeeping

Yet another small gem from that great year of French pics 2002. The talent is out of the right bottle too if anybody asks you, writer director Claude Berri and male lead Jean-Pierre Bacri, no slouch as a writer himself. To a certain extent is IS a male fantasy with Emillie Duquenne all but throwing herself at Bacri who has to be twice her age at least. But, as others have pointed out in these boards Bacri is basically decent and certainly wasn't looking for a May-December affair only for someone to police his apartment. For reasons of her own Duquenne developed what seemed to be genuine hots for him and naturally he's not going to turn down an attractive young girl. There's no special insight nor is any attempted, it's just a record of a brief fling in which nobody really gets hurt and we get to see some pleasant Parisian locations and listen to some pleasing music. Lemon soufflé anyone.