| Description |
The Maids (1974)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071798/
The Maids (French: Les Bonnes) is a 1974 film that was directed by Christopher Miles. It is based on the play of the same title by the French dramatist Jean Genet. The film stars Glenda Jackson as Solange, Susannah York as Claire, Vivien Merchant as Madame, and Mark Burns as Monsieur. Solange and Claire are two housemaids who construct elaborate sadomasochistic rituals when their mistress (Madame) is away. The focus of their role-playing is the murder of Madame and they take turns portraying either side of the power divide. The deliberate pace and devotion to detail guarantees that they always fail to actualize their fantasies by ceremoniously "killing" Madame at the ritual's denouement.
Before it was filmed for the American Film Theatre, it ran at the Greenwich Theatre, London, with the same principal cast later used for the film version. The cinematographer Douglas Slocombe deliberately implemented many of Genet's theatrical devices for the film. The camera was often static, the settings lush and extravagant.
The story of the Papin sisters was filmed in 1995 as Sister My Sister, starring British actresses Joely Richardson, Jodhi May and Julie Walters. The film was directed by Nancy Meckler and written by Wendy Kesselman. The case was also the subject of Murderous Maids (Les Blessures Assassines), a French film starring Sylvie Testud and Julie-Marie Parmentier and directed by Jean-Pierre Denis, released in 2000.
Written in 1945 and first staged in 1947, The Maids was based on the 1933 case of the Papin sisters, maids who brutally killed their mother and daughter employers. The story became the French equivalent to the Leopold and Loeb saga, inspiring a number of novels and films including Sister My Sister (1994), Murderous Maids (2001), and less directly, the Ruth Rendell novel A Judgment in Stone which was filmed as The Housekeeper (1986) and, most memorably, Claude Chabrol's La Cérémonie (1995). The Maids is less a straightforward historical depiction than a forum for Genet's typically outrageous writing style, with characters spouting venomous, purple-prosed insults at each other throughout the running time. (No wonder it was a favorite of horror cult favorite Andy Milligan, who staged it throughout his theatrical career.) Jackson is perfectly cast as Solange, her cat-like eyes constantly betraying the insidious thoughts brewing in her head, while Susannah York essentially expands her treacherous, sex-object lesbian role from The Killing of Sister George with a few new wrinkles. After the opening sequence, the film stays largely confined to the house where the three leads embark upon extended psychological warfare; while the layers of play-acting don't have quite the same impact on film as they do on the stage, director Christopher Miles (The Virgin and the Gypsy) keeps the proceedings intriguing and ambiguous thanks some dazzling, colorful production design worthy of Fassbinder and fluid cinematography by seasoned pro Douglas Slocombe (The Fearless Vampire Killers). Laurie Johnson (The Avengers, Captain Kronos-Vampire Hunter) also contributes an appropriately sparse, nerve-jangling score.
Glenda Jackson ... Solange
Susannah York ... Claire
Vivien Merchant ... Madame
Directed by Christopher Miles
Writing credits
Jean Genet play "Les Bonnes"
Robert Enders writer
Christopher Miles writer
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