Sandrine Bonnaire becomes a rich family's maid in Claude Chabrol's La cérémonie, and she has a secret that could get her fired. She makes friends with an anarchic town post office clerk played by Isabelle Huppert, and that sets both on an "eat the rich"-type path, and potential tragedy. These are two very different women - one almost robotic in apathy (a defense strategy that has become sociopathic), the other passionate and destructive (but like her new friend, trauma that has evolved into sociopathy). They feed each other, and there's that sense of peer goading that just happens naturally when one wants to feel like they belong, even to this pod of two. And if course it's about class. The film is well-observed in its delineation between the working class girls and the bourgeoisie always speaking from a place of privilege even when the characters "mean well". There's a strange editing choice just before the climax that impugns the reality of the ending, but doesn't track, so it's... a marker to trigger the rather opaque title? (It's a quote from a Jean Jenet play about similar events, but that's pretty literate for the normal cinema goer.) I'm never too sure about Chabrol in the final leg of a race, but this one lives and breathes thanks to some excellent performances from its two stars.
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greennui
A manic and suspenseful psychodrama that just spirals and spirals towards the climax of the film. Great film.ghost of utopia
great movie about burjuvazi and proletariate from a different perspective. Great acting from Isabelle Huppert!ClassicLady
Somehow, I kept thinking of THELMA AND LOUISE while watching this. Not as much fun as THELMA AND LOUISE but just as shocking.Siskoid
Sandrine Bonnaire becomes a rich family's maid in Claude Chabrol's La cérémonie, and she has a secret that could get her fired. She makes friends with an anarchic town post office clerk played by Isabelle Huppert, and that sets both on an "eat the rich"-type path, and potential tragedy. These are two very different women - one almost robotic in apathy (a defense strategy that has become sociopathic), the other passionate and destructive (but like her new friend, trauma that has evolved into sociopathy). They feed each other, and there's that sense of peer goading that just happens naturally when one wants to feel like they belong, even to this pod of two. And if course it's about class. The film is well-observed in its delineation between the working class girls and the bourgeoisie always speaking from a place of privilege even when the characters "mean well". There's a strange editing choice just before the climax that impugns the reality of the ending, but doesn't track, so it's... a marker to trigger the rather opaque title? (It's a quote from a Jean Jenet play about similar events, but that's pretty literate for the normal cinema goer.) I'm never too sure about Chabrol in the final leg of a race, but this one lives and breathes thanks to some excellent performances from its two stars.CorPse
Surprisingly dull and predictable for a psychological thriller.DaniloFreiles
Altre due psicopatiche.