Diary of a Chambermaid (1964)

Diary of a Chambermaid (1964), directed by Luis Buñuel.

It sounds like an erotic farce, doesn't it? We have just a hint of that: Celestine is a Parisian servant now at a big house in the country. She manages her employers pretty well: the lecherous monsieur and his frigid, domineering wife. The old man is an eccentric sweetie: he has Celestine model boots for him which he then inspects more closely behind closed doors.

It turns darker. Just before WW2, the political crazies are out. They're talking about killing and mean it. Then a little girl is raped and murdered: a ghastly scene shows her lying in the woods, her legs covered with blood, snails crawling on her.

Celestine knows the killer and wants him punished. She seduces him and promises to marry him, even planting evidence, but there is no justice this time. Their lives go on separately, each doing pretty well as war approaches. The End.

Criterion DVD.

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