Only for staff!
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Only for staff! |
| Original title | Les femmes du 6 e étage |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French , Spanish |
| Publishing year | 2010 |
| length | 107 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 0 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Philippe Le Guay |
| script | Philippe Le Guay Jérôme Tonnerre |
| production |
Etienne Comar Philippe Rousselet |
| music | Jorge Arriagada |
| camera | Jean-Claude Larrieu |
| cut | Monica Coleman |
| occupation | |
| |
Only for staff! is a French film comedy by Philippe Le Guay from the year 2010 .
action
Paris 1962: Jean-Louis Joubert is the owner of an upper-class town house in an exclusive location in Paris. He works as an asset manager, his wife Suzanne spends the day with social responsibilities, and their two sons go to boarding school while they are at school. Germaine Bronech has been working for the family as a maid for 25 years, but now she cannot cope with the death of Joubert's mother and the associated changes in the Joubert house and quits. Since the more sophisticated French maids have gone out of fashion in higher society, Suzanne decides to hire a Spanish maid like her friends. The church, in which the Spanish women pray on Sundays, serves as a "mediator". Suzanne opts for the young Maria, who recently came to France. She is the niece of Concepción Ramirez, who works as a maid for a family in Jean-Louis's house. Maria now moves into a simple room with the other Spanish maids in the apartment building on the 6th floor.
Maria is initially employed as a trial. Jean-Louis' only request to her is to bring him soft-boiled eggs for breakfast, and Maria manages the perfectly boiled egg. On the first day, all the other Spanish women help her to do the housework that has been left behind for the past few weeks in one day. Suzanne is thrilled and hires Maria. Jean-Louis uses a room on the 6th floor as a storage room. When he brings furniture upstairs with Maria, he lets her show him her room and is surprised that the Spanish women do not have their own bathroom, but can only wash themselves with cold water from a bowl. He also sees the constantly clogged toilet and immediately organizes a plumber. When the maid Dolores worries that she has not received any more letters from her heavily pregnant sister, Jean-Louis lets her use his private set to make calls. She is overjoyed, and from now on Jean-Louis is a saint for her.
Jean-Louis begins to be interested in Spain, the language and the culture. Maria learns that his attitude is not the norm when Joubert's sons leave boarding school and treat them disrespectfully. Jean-Louis, on the other hand, spontaneously took part in a Sunday service of the Spanish women a little later. In the meantime, his wife has learned from her friends over a coffee chat that Jean-Louis has been entrusted with the management of Bettina de Brossolette's fortune. Since Bettina has a reputation for seducing married men, Suzanne suspects a relationship between Jean-Louis and Bettina. She believes her suspicions are confirmed when Bettina also appears at a reception in her house that Jean-Louis gives for business friends. However, he has no eyes for Bettina, but rather for Maria, who is harassed by a waiter hired for that day. Because Jean-Louis believes that Maria has flirted with the man, he disciplines her and accuses her of only being in the house because Suzanne is attached to her. Marie is not aware of any guilt and is now cooking him his breakfast egg extra hard. She accuses him of being just a “patron” like everyone else. When Jean-Louis found out that Maria's colleague Pilar was being beaten by her husband and would ideally need a quiet concierge position in another house, he organized such a position for one of his clients . Pilar invites him to the inauguration party in her new apartment, and Jean-Louis enjoys the evening, during which Maria can revise her opinion of him. Suzanne, on the other hand, believes he spent the evening with Bettina at a vernissage, as he was invited by Bettina. When she doesn't believe him that evening with the maids, he resignedly declares that he actually went to see Bettina, and Suzanne throws him out of the apartment.
Jean-Louis moves into the storage room on the 6th floor and befriends the Spanish women. Together they go on a trip to the pilgrimage site of Lisieux and dance and sing together. The sons try in vain to bring Jean-Louis back to his apartment. He enjoys finally having a room to himself. In addition, he developed a deep affection for Maria, which Concepción did not hide. She fears that Maria will repeat an earlier mistake: At that time she became pregnant by the host and had to give her son Miguel up for adoption after the birth . Maria doesn't know what happened to him, but now tells her Concepción that eight-year-old Miguel lives in a boarding school. Maria decides to give up her job with the Jouberts and bring Miguel back. After quitting Suzanne, she can't tell Jean-Louis the truth. He misinterprets her hesitant hint and kisses her. They spend the night together, and Jean-Louis is already imagining that he will go to Spain with her. But Maria leaves the next morning without saying goodbye. Jean-Louis quits his job and is already planning to flee with Maria, but learns from Suzanne that Maria is no longer in Paris. The fact that Maria's colleagues also knew about their departure plans, but didn't tell him anything, disappoints him very much, as he thought they were his friends.
Three years later, Jean-Louis is driving his car in Spain. He visits Concepción, who now lives in Spain again. Jean-Louis hopes to find out Maria's whereabouts from her, but she claims that Maria moved away years ago. Only her husband secretly tells Jean-Louis where Maria lives. Jean-Louis drives to her village and meets Maria's son Miguel, who shows him the way to Maria's house. She sees him hanging up laundry. Both beam at each other.
Production and publication
Only for staff! was shot in Paris and Chinchón , Spain . The film premiered on October 23, 2010 at the Festival du Cinéma Méditerranéen de Montpellier and was released on February 16, 2011 in French cinemas. In Germany, the film first ran out of competition at the Berlinale in February 2011 and was released in German cinemas on November 3, 2011. The film was released on DVD in April 2012.
criticism
For the film service was only for staff! a “comedy that plays with social and cultural contrasts, is told in a light and somewhat fairy tale style, with charming, spirited actors.” Cinema called the film “amusing, warm-hearted, cheerful” and described it as “the story of a man who got out of social constraints freed ". "A film like a snowflake: gently melting, very fleeting, welcome," wrote Der Spiegel .
Awards
Carmen Maura won a César for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Concepción Ramirez in 2012 . Pierre-François Limbosch was nominated for a César in the Best Production Design category and Christian Gasc received a César nomination in the Best Costumes category .
Web links
- Only for staff! in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ release certificate for only for staff! Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , October 2011 (PDF; test number: 129 703 K).
- ↑ For staff only! In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ See cinema.de
- ↑ New films in November: For staff only . In: KulturSpiegel , No. 11, 2011, p. 57.