The Diary of a Chambermaid

Célestine takes a new post as a chambermaid in the country, with the Lanlaire family. Her plan is settled: she will use her looks to land a rich man. The master of the house is no use, since the household is run by his wife with help from the odd valet Joseph. Célestine turns first to the neighbour, the retired officer Mauger, and then the family's son Georges comes home. Three men from three classes with three ideas about living, and the question becomes not only which one she picks but whether anyone will believe she means it. This is one of the films Jean Renoir made during his American years, from Octave Mirbeau's novel. Burgess Meredith wrote and produced it, and his wife Paulette Goddard has the lead. Renoir had to build the French countryside on a Hollywood stage, and the artificiality pushes the tone toward theatre. Luis Buñuel filmed the same novel in 1964 to entirely different ends; reading the two side by side shows what Renoir lightened here.