Adapted from the 1900 Octave Mirbeau novel of the same name but set in the 1930s, Luis Buñuel's Le journal d'une femme de chambre / Diary of a Chambermaid is more like Jean Renoir's 1939 masterpiece La Règle du jeu / The Rules of the Game than Renoir's 1945 (Americanized) version of the very same Diary of a Chambermaid.
To clarify, Buñuel's version is not a blue film -- in fact, it is literally in black and white and renders instead a consummate study in manners and interactions between socio-economic classes, outlooks and behaviors. In that, it has some of the spirit of the BBC series, Upstairs, Downstairs. And it is exquisitely crafted in straight narrative style, with a wonderful ensemble cast. Furthermore, Jeanne Moreau in the main role as Céléstine shines with magnetic charisma. Céléstine is what Paul Fussell would call an "x" person, one who can glide back and forth through all socio-economic classes with relative ease, and Moreau herself personifies that ability.
In addition to all that, Buñuel makes wry observations pointing to the hypocrisy of many of those in power -- including local leaders of the Catholic Church in this case, the Michael Jackson-like bizarreness of the upper classes and the insidious nature of right wing ideology. The status quo, already unjust and backwards, is itself threatened by a far worse shift to the right. In short, Le journal d'une femme de chambre carries forth a message -- as in a bottle from a distant shore, perhaps -- that's eerily pertinent to the here and now, as some of our shrewder contemporary observers will quickly realize.
Today's Rune: Signals.
1 comment:
I suppose it's more of the everything old is new again, or that the more things change the more they never change. Humanity isn't my favorite creation.
Post a Comment