Diary of a Chambermaid

Diary of a Chambermaid is a 2015 French drama film directed by Benoît Jacquot, and written by Jacquot and Hélène Zimmer. It is an adaptation of Octave Mirbeau's 1900 novel of the same name and stars Léa Seydoux as Célestine, a young and ambitious woman who works as a chambermaid for a wealthy couple in France during the early twentieth century. Mirbeau's original novel was adapted into films multiple times before, notably Jean Renoir's 1946 film and Luis Buñuel's 1964 film. It was screened in the main competition section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival and was released on 1 April 2015, by Mars Distribution. Synopsis In Normandy at the end of the 19th century, a beautiful and ambitious young chambermaid named Célestine (Léa Seydoux) enters the service of her new employers, the Lanlaire family, which consists of a bitter wife and her perverted husband. Monsieur Lanlaire has a reputation for molesting and impregnating his chambermaids, while Madame Lanlaire is known for her domineering attitude over her servants and often fires her chambermaids. She also meets the other servants: Marianne, the overweight and homely cook and the mysterious, older Joseph (Vincent Lindon), the groom, who shares a mutual attraction with Célestine. Throughout the film, Célestine reflects on her past positions, such as to a middle-aged woman with an elderly husband who was humiliated at a train customs stop after being forced to open a box revealing her dildo. Another significant post was her satisfying employment with the sickly young Georges and his kindly grandmother. Georges became infatuated with Célestine as she took care of him. After resisting his advances at first, Célestine had sex with him, only for him to succumb to his illness and die during the act, horrifying her. Numb from the experience, she left the position.