By George Bate
Octave Mirbeau’s novel The Diary of a Chambermaid may be 126 years old this year, but its commentary on the moral decay of the bourgeoisie arguably feels more relevant than ever. The novel tells the story of Célestine, a maid who encounters cruelty, perversion, greed, vile behaviors, and bizarre fetishes as she works for various wealthy families in Paris and the French countryside. Using dark humor, Mirbeau scathingly critiques the master-servant dynamic and devastatingly portrays the ways in which the moral failings of the wealthy ultimately corrupts the poor.
After numerous feature film adaptations of Mirbeau’s work over the years, prominent Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude cleverly puts a meta spin on The Diary of a Chambermaid and transposes it to modern day France. The result is a film that triumphs more in conception than execution, although the message at the heart of the socioeconomic satire is as skewering as it is disturbingly of the moment.
Making its North American premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), The Diary of a Chambermaid (or Le journal d’une femme de chambre in French) unfolds in present-day Paris and follows Gianina (Ana Dumitrașcu), a Romanian migrant who has left her young daughter in Romania and moved to France to work as a live-in housekeeper for an upper-class family. When she’s not tirelessly working, she prepares for a role in an amateur production of The Diary of a Chambermaid, ironically due to a suggestion from one of her employers. But as Gianina takes care of a family that is not her own, while her family longs for her back home, she struggles with the opposing forces that are being with her family and providing for them.
Those familiar with the work of Radu Jude will know that the Romanian filmmaker has a keen interest in interrogating societal issues, often using satire to do so. The Diary of a Chambermaid is no exception, although it is decidedly less ambitious and experimental than his previous two films Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World and Kontinental ‘25.
Jude’s take on The Diary of a Chambermaid quickly makes the audience empathize with its troubled protagonist. Splicing in extended FaceTimes between Gianina and her daughter heartbreakingly depicts what it is like to do something that benefits one’s child, but that the child may not fully understand is beneficial to them. Jude allows the audience to sit in on these calls as Gianina does her best to keep her composure, be the loving mother that her daughter needs, and minimize the impact of her absence.
Adding to the emotional toll these FaceTimes take on both Gianina and the audience is that they take place in rural Romania, a stark juxtaposition to the wealthy home Gianina works in in France. Glimpses of Gianina’s elderly grandmother, who is forced to take on a maternal role for Gianina’s daughter, so startlingly contrast the cushioned lives of the people Gianina is surrounded by in France that it takes one aback just how vastly different life is depending on socioeconomic status.
As mentioned, Jude weaves in a meta element into his adaptation of The Diary of a Chambermaid by having his lead character star in an amateur production of The Diary of a Chambermaid. While inventive and ripe for exploration, especially given the fact that Gianina participates in the play at the behest of one of Gianina’s wealthy employers, the film does little of substance with it, rendering it a gimmick more so than a critical element of the narrative. It doesn’t help that the scenes of Gianina and others rehearsing the play are painfully long and exceedingly dull relative to everything else in the movie.
Meanwhile, the family that Gianina works for is polite and cordial, not in any way overtly abusive or bizarre like the families Célestine is employed by in the novel. However, they irritate with their willingness to put Gianina on the spot and ask her for political opinions that are not of interest to a decidedly apolitical woman who simply doesn’t have the bandwidth to have political opinions. Their mildly condescending tone and desire to appear intellectual, overusing jargon and making sweeping generalizations with much emotion and not much in the way of substance, makes them the de facto antagonists of the film, although the amount of restraint that goes into their portrayal makes them underwhelming opponents for Gianina.
A third act marked by a shocking event briefly brings the film to life, but there is simply not the depth or subversiveness of commentary to warrant such laborious pacing and uneventful storytelling. Jude’s film wears its message on its sleeve from the get-go and, a contrast to some of his previous work, is so devoid of energy and personality that this message loses its potency. Its commentary on the cycle of exploitation that the source material explores underwhelms, in turn even further simplifying its overarching message. Dumitrașcu plays Gianina with such subdual and there is so little narrative momentum that those unfamiliar with Mirbeau’s novel could be forgiven for questioning why it was ever such a fuss in the first place.
VERDICT: 5/10
Prominent Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude reimagines Octave Mirbeau’s classic novel The Diary of a Chambermaid with a clever meta-take and bringing the story into the present day. Unfortunately, the film is far more successful in conception than execution. Although quickly cultivating audience empathy for the lead character and her struggle, the film’s meta element plays more like a gimmick than something truly subversive, especially as scenes of an amateur production of The Diary of a Chambermaid are painfully long and exceedingly dull. In fits and starts, the film interests with its more subtle portrayal of a condescending, pseudo-intellectual upper class, although it is ultimately far too restrained with both its style and commentary. Although briefly brought more alive by a shocking third act event, The Diary of a Chambermaid ultimately underwhelms in that, despite featuring a scathingly critique of the bourgeoise, it lacks the energy and personality to make its admittedly straightforward message as impactful as it could be.
The Diary of a Chambermaid made its North American premiere at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).