Le Journal d’une femme de chambre (1964) - film review

In the late 1930s, a young woman, Célestine, leaves Paris to take up the post of a chambermaid with the Monteils, a bourgeois family living in rural France.  Célestine’s initial observation that life in the country is trite is soon disproved when she discovers that the Monteuils are barely on speaking terms, their father, Monsieur Rabour, has an obsessive shoe fetish, and their servant Joseph is an extreme right-ring activist.  After the death of Monsieur Rabour, Célestine decides to give up her job, but changes her mind after a little girl is raped and murdered.  Suspecting Joseph of the crime, she offers him sexual favours, whilst secretly looking for the evidence that will incriminate him...

Le Journal d’une femme de chambre is arguably Luis Buñuel’s most caustic and unfettered assault on those institutions he rallied against throughout his life.  The bourgeoisie, the clergy, the military – the self-proclaimed standard bearers of respectability - are beautifully represented with the director’s characteristic wit and venom.  The film also makes an unusual and perceptive study of human morality – the situations depicted in the film may be exaggerated and set in another era, but they manage to strike an easy resonance with the spectator.

Although Buñuel spends a lot of time caricaturing the bourgeoise and their entourage, the film is mainly concerned with the morally ambiguous chambermaid, Célestine (played beautifully by Jeanne Moreau) and the vicious fascist servant Joseph.  The shifting relationship between Célestine and Joseph is constantly surprising and we never really know what either of the characters is playing at.  Neither character can claim moral superiority – Célestine is ultimately shown to be a spineless opportunist and Joseph is clearly a nasty piece of work.  However, both have a vestige of humanity which provides enough ambiguity to give their relationship an edge of dangerous unpredictability.

Although it has some splendid comic moments, Le Journal d’une femme de chambre is much darker than most of Buñuel’s other films.  The rape of the young girl is not filmed directed but alluded to rather subtlely, and is perhaps the most shocking thing in any of Buñuel’s films.  The ending of the film, a sober moment which presages the inevitable rise of fascism in Europe, also sends a shiver down the spine, even if it feels frustratingly disconnected from the rest of the film.

© James Travers 2002

See also:
The life of Luis Buñuel
Un chien Andalou
L’Age d’or
Viridiana
El Angel exterminador
Belle du jour
Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie
French fantasy films




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With Bunuel’s film Le Journal d’une femme de chambre, one can observe the slow development of Célestine’s profile.  In the beginning, her personality could appear as being that of someone pleasant, who abides to moral principles.  In the second part of the film however her character is far from likeable.  Her choice in marrying a retired army (and anti-Semitic) officer shows opportunism and immorality.  By contrast, in the second half, the man who is responsible for the murder of the child becomes more likeable and closer.  For Célestine, the case of the murdered child turns into a personal vendetta, an obsession.  Does this reveal a similar viciousness that her rival possessed when he murdered the child in the forest?
Stephen (Belgium) 

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