Diary of a Chambermaid is a 1964 French–Italian drama film. It is one of several French films made by Spanish-born filmmaker Luis Buñuel. Though highly satirical and reflective of his typical anti-bourgeoisie sentiments, it is one of Buñuel's more realistic films, generally avoiding the outlandish surrealist imagery and far-fetched plot twists found in many of his other works. It stars Jeanne Moreau as a chambermaid whose attractiveness is apparent to owners and to servants alike—her femininity charms some, at the same time it brings out envy in others of the household and among adjacent neighbors. The maid's predicament, in this light, develops her as a character with some autonomy, and with some powers that derive from the narrative context—which is a social setting of corruption, violence, sexual obsession and perversion. Just off the train from Paris, the chambermaid steps into a waiting buggy from the chateau, its driver already eyeing her, with designs that he expresses by remarking on her shoes. This was the first screenwriting collaboration between Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière, which would later produce his well-known Belle de Jour, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and That Obscure Object of Desire. The two extensively reworked the 1900 novel of the same name by Octave Mirbeau, that had been given a more literal treatment in its second film adaptation, made in Hollywood in 1946, directed by Jean Renoir. The novel has been adapted for the screen a third time in Benoît Jacquot's 2015 version.
Plot
A stylish, attractive young woman, Célestine, arrives from Paris to become chambermaid for an odd family at their country chateau. The period is mid-1930s, and the populace is astir with extremist politics, right and left. The Monteil's household consists of a childless couple, the frigid wife's elderly, genteel father, and several servants, including Joseph the groom who's a rightist, nationalist, anti-Semitic, violent man. The wife runs a rigidly tidy house; she would like to please her virile husband physically, but cannot, due to pelvic "pain". M. Monteil amuses himself by hunting small game and pursuing all the females within range—the previous chambermaid seems to have left pregnant and had to be "bought off". The wife's father amuses himself with his collection of racy postcards and novels, and a closet full of women's shoes and boots, that he likes his chambermaids to model. Their next-door neighbor is a burly, retired Army officer, with a chubby maid/mistress, and a violent streak of his own—he likes to throw refuse and stones over the fence, to the great annoyance of M. Monteil. To the maid's role, Célestine adapts quickly, and through her own insight as well as through convivial gossip from kitchen staff, she begins to employ her own female assets conveniently, a practical behavior providing her some security, in her varied domestic relations or encounters. The elderly father, M. Rabour, is found dead in bed, disheveled, clutching some boots that Célestine had worn earlier that evening; and Célestine decides to leave the job the next day. Previously, however, she had become motherly and protective of a sweet prepubescent girl named Claire who visited the house; after the girl's raped and mutilated body is found in a nearby wood, Célestine decides to stay on at the job, in order to get revenge on the murderer. She quickly finds reason to suspect the groom Joseph. She seduces and promises to marry him and join him to run a café in Cherbourg, so he will confess the crime to her, which he does not. She then contrives and plants evidence to implicate him in the girl's murder. He is arrested, but eventually released for lack of solid evidence, although there is a suggestion that the real reason is his nativist political activism. Meanwhile, Célestine agrees to marry the elderly ex-Army-officer neighbor, and after the marriage, we see him serving her breakfast in bed and obeying her commands. The final scene shows a crowd of nationalistic men marching past the Cherbourg café run by Joseph, who has another woman now and is shouting rightist slogans.
The film was originally intended for the Mexican actress Silvia Pinal. Pinal learned French and was willing to charge nothing for her participation. However, the French producers ended up choosing Jeanne Moreau.
Shooting on Diary of a Chambermaid began on 21 October 1963.
At the end of the film, the marching rightists shout "Vive Chiappe", a reference to the Paris police chief who stopped director Buñuel's 1930 film, L'Âge d'Or from being exhibited after the theater it was being shown in was destroyed by Fascists.
