Diary of a chambermaid (1964)

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Movie
German title A chambermaid's diary
Original title Le Journal d'une femme de chamber
Country of production France , Italy
original language French
Publishing year 1964
length 97 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Luis Buñuel
script Luis Buñuel,
Jean-Claude Carrière
production Serge Silberman
music Antoine Petitjean
camera Roger Fellous
cut Luis Buñuel,
Louisette Hautecoeur
occupation
synchronization

A maid's diary is a feature film by Luis Buñuel from 1964, shot in France and based on Octave Mirbeau 's novel of the same name , which was filmed by Jean Renoir in 1946 . In this sharp satire on the mendacious French provincial bourgeoisie, which persisted in their reactionary traditions between the two world wars, Buñuel branded these traditions as signs of burgeoning fascism .

When the maid Célestine ( Jeanne Moreau ) comes to Normandy from Paris to her new masters, the hidden social conflicts come to light. In the diary of a chambermaid , Luis Buñuel largely dispenses with surrealist means, which have mostly played a major role in his previous films. At first glance, the characters and the plot seem straightforward and transparent, but as the film progresses, question marks appear more and more.

action

The film is set in 1928. A train drives through a faceless landscape. Arrived at the provincial train station, Célestine, a very lady from the capital Paris , gets off and is brought by the sullen coachman Joseph to the house where she is supposed to take up a job as a maid . Even the change in the speed of the means of transport - from the train to the horse-drawn carriage - signals how big the gap is between the previous surroundings of Célestine and what awaits them. As soon as she arrived at the manor house, Madame Monteil, the lady of the house, sent her in and censured her. Their clothes and their demeanor are not appropriate in this environment, which is guided by tradition. Célestine is submissive, as is expected of her, but otherwise doesn't care much about the restrictions placed on her.

Madame Monteil's father, Monsieur Rabour, was standing behind a tree when Célestine arrived, so that his eyes followed her. He then talks about the hunt with his son-in-law and, at the direction of Monsieur Monteil, fires his first shot from the shotgun: at a butterfly that has perched on a flower with a bee. Monsieur Monteil meets Célestine in the bathroom and the womanizer he is portrayed as stutters. Old Rabour asks Célestine into his room so that she can read him from a book. In reality, however, what he wants is to see the maid pacing up and down in the booties that he keeps in a closet as a memory of his beloved. He wants to touch her legs. Célestine lets it happen. Shortly afterwards, Capitaine (Captain) Mauger, the neighbor of the Monteils, appears. A reserve officer who despises and mocks the family beyond the fence by slapstick-like tossing his rubbish over the fence.

Sooner or later, all men chase after Célestine, who, however, with her sobriety, lets everyone show up. The old man with his shoe fetishism is still the most harmless, he soon dies naked among his fetishes . The landlord is not up to her and runs into the void with his advances. Later he will force the submissive, unattractive house maid to be of service to him. Joseph, the coachman, an active anti-Semite and organized in a fascist way with the church clerk , was initially hostile towards her. An attitude that can be seen as a defensive reaction because he will later be the first to propose to her. The also anti-Semitic militarist and neighbor will shortly afterwards also submit an application to her, which she will "examine".

The check includes the occurrences on the property. The little peasant girl Claire, whom Célestine took to the heart, is found raped and murdered in the forest. Before that it hopped between the trees, like a little red riding hood, to pick berries. Joseph meets it by chance, says goodbye to him and shortly afterwards runs back into the forest. Célestine only learns of the crimes against the girl when she is back at the train station to leave after old Rabour has died. The lady of the house gave her the rest when she revealed herself to be a bigoted Madame, obedient to the pastor, haggling and caught in her constraints, who also carried out strange chemical experiments. She is disgusted with Joseph after torturing a goose before slaughtering it so that it might taste better. However, she returns to work in the manor house to convict little Claire's killer. To this end, she responds to Joseph's proposal of marriage in order to find clues for his deed or to hear a confession. Nothing works. Joseph's activities as a fascist come to a head and at the same time Célestine slips him with evidence that is supposed to convict him of murdering Claire. There is a lawsuit, but Joseph is soon released and opens a harbor pub on the coast. Célestine marries the captain and finds herself as a shadow in a world that is dissolving.

background

A maid's diary is based on Octave Mirbeau's novel of the same name from 1900. Jean Renoir filmed the novel as early as 1946. However, with a few differences: A happy ending softened the social criticism of the original. Buñuel also changed the story to adapt it to his style: he carried over the action from the 19th century to 1928. At that time he was living in France and took part in social and political conflicts. The diary of a maid belongs to the last creative period of Buñuel, who was unable to continue producing during the Spanish dictatorship under Franco .

"As freely and curiously as this maid goes on a journey of discovery into the perversion of another person, Buñuel looks at the perversions of all of his characters."

- Jeanne Moreau , The Time

The film creates tension through a number of parodic , grotesque , ironic and sometimes overly realistic allusions. His criticism of bourgeois and reactionary society is expressed above all in his closing sequence, in which Joseph, the reactionary nationalist, the murderer and rapist, encourages a xenophobic demonstration.

At the end of the film, Joseph shouts Vive Chiappe during the demonstration . Chiappe is the prefect who, under pressure from right-wing circles in France, enforced a ban on the performance of the film The Golden Age .

Reviews

"The 'diary' [...] proves with almost documentary rigor why nothing can succeed if you do the math without society."

- WD, Die Zeit

"By the way, you could also see the film as a black comedy, as a swan song for a belligerent and murderous society that falls into the abyss of death only to regenerate itself from the ruins years later."

- Ulrich Behrens, filmzentrale.com

“Without a tight plot, the film mainly depicts decadent milieus and joins the previous attacks by the Spanish director Bunuel on certain social classes. The honesty of his undertaking remains open to doubts, despite its formal advantages. For adults. "

- Protestant film observer

synchronization

The German dubbed version was made at Ultra Film Synchron in Berlin . The dialogue book was written by Wolfgang Schnitzler and the dialogue was directed by Hermann Gressieker

role actor Voice actor
Celestine Jeanne Moreau Hannelore Schroth
M. Monteil Michel Piccoli Horst Niendorf
Hpt. Mauger Daniel Ivernel Martin Hirthe
Mme. Monteil Françoise Lugagne Agi Prandhoff
M. Rabour Jean Ozenne Robert Klupp
Joseph Georges Géret Hans Dieter Zeidler

literature

Web links

Commons : Filming locations of a chambermaid's diary  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jeanne Moreau : The master of our abysses . In: Die Zeit , No. 7/2008.
  2. ^ WD: Film . In: Die Zeit , No. 39/1964.
  3. ↑ Ulrich Behrens: Death Longings. In: filmzentrale . 2008, accessed January 11, 2009 .
  4. ↑ Ev. Munich Press Association, Review No. 416/1964.
  5. ↑ Diary of a chambermaid. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing index , accessed on March 21, 2020 .