La Ceremonie

Starring:Isabelle Huppert, Sandrine Bonnaire, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Jacqueline Bisset, Virginie Ledoyen, Valentin Merlet, Julien Rochefort, Dominique Frot, Jean-FranÃ§ois Perrier, Ludovic Brillant, Claire Chiron, Claire-Marie Dentraygues, Jean-Pierre Descheix, Penny Fairclough, Alain FranÃ§oise, David Gabison, Pierre Gondard, Claire Ifrane, Philippe Languille, Philippe Le Coq
Director: Claude Chabrol
Studio: Homevision
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

In the 1960s and early '70s, Claude Chabrol was celebrated as the Gallic Hitchcock for his crisp, character-rich thrillers. La Cérémonie, his 1997 hit adapted from Ruth Rendell's novel A Judgement in Stone, is a return to form, an assured domestic drama set in the upper-class household of the kind but condescending Lelievres family. Sandrine Bonnaire, excellent in an enigmatic, uncommunicative role, stars as their new, neurotically silent maid Sophie. She performs her duties efficiently and emotionlessly, staring out from behind an implacable, mask-like face born of loneliness and defensiveness. Isabelle Huppert is the town's gleefully misanthropic postmistress Jeanne, a gossipy, energetically insolent misfit who hates the Lelievres. When she becomes Sophie's best friend, her pathological game of taunts and gossip goes into overdrive with her sudden access to their house, and an already simmering class conflict boils over in unleashed anger. Chabrol charts the cascade of mischief and misunderstandings to its shattering conclusion, with a sensitivity to character and an eagle-eyed remove that makes the explosive climax all the more chilling. It's a devastating thriller, one of Chabrol's best, and a powerful portrait in hate and psychosis pushed over the edge in misunderstanding, manipulation, and mistrust. Jacqueline Bisset is the fumbling but sincere Mme. Lelievres, Jean-Pierre Cassel her complacent husband, and Virginie Ledoyen (A Single Girl) their sensitive young daughter. --Sean Axmaker

Description

In La Cérémonie, Claude Chabrol, known as the "French Hitchcock," creates one of his most shocking and unforgettable thrillers. Catherine (Jacqueline Bisset - Day for Night, The Deep) hires the illiterate Sophie as her maid. But Sophie (Sandrine Bonnaire - Femme Fatale) soon falls under the influence of the mysterious Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert -The Piano Player, Merci Pour Le Chocolat), and the stage is set for a tale of murder, violence and betrayal. One of the Chabrol's most acclaimed films, and the winner of numerous international awards, La Cérémonie is a masterpiece of suspense.

Customer Reviews:

The Bourgeoisie and the Rebels.......2007-05-23

LA CEREMONIE is a great film--perfectly paced, deftly acted, wonderfully written! The film's premise is simple enough. A middle-class French family with a lovely country estate hires a new maid, Sophie (played to perfection by Sandrine Bonnaire of VAGABOND and MONSIEUR HIRE). Sophie moves in and is an admirably efficient housekeeper, a good cook, and a quiet young woman (some might say, "oddly" quiet). Sophie befriends the local postal mistress (played with wild joie de vivre by Isabelle Huppert). Between the two friends, a world of anger, resentment, and outright hatred for the arrogance and haute couture attitude of the family Sophie works for emerges. What follows is a stunning, horrifying, largely unplanned explosion when the family and the "under"class-women confront one another. BAM! This film strikes a major blow. Covering similar ground as "MURDEROUS MAIDS" and "SISTER, MY SISTER,"-- both films based on the 1933 murders by the Papin sisters in which the sisters (femmes des bonnes--chambermaids)-- murder their patrons, LA CEREMONIE takes a similar view of the clash between the bourgeoisie and the hired help. This is a must-see film for lovers of suspense. One of the best of its genre.

The rage of the underclass.......2007-05-03

A real shocker. Beneath the veneer of a placid provincial bourgeoisie setting the world of a typical upper middle class family is going to be, literally, shot to pieces. A succession of odd coincidences lead Sophie (Sandra Bonnaire) the literacy challenged maid, and the downcast postal clerk (Isabelle Huppert) who has a heavy dose of class hatred, to a mini re-enactment of the French Revolution. Huppert, who is one of my favorites, usually plays wacko bourgeoisie characters(e. g. The Piano Teacher, Ma Mere); in this case she detests them, in general, and this family (whose mademoiselle character is a fair- but oblivious to her situation- Jacqueline Bisset), in particular. The gruesome story builds suspense in nearly Hitchockean genius to an almost unbelievable ending. The director, Chabrol does a masterful job in orchestrating this narrative-perhaps among his finest work. I would put this film in the category of If, the British film from the 60's starring Malcolm McDowell, with a similar violent class related ending. I'm glad in our culturally anesthetized age, there are still films available like this, and IF(finally being released on DVD soon) that makes us seriously question oppressive aspects of ever more rigidified class stratifactions. This
is definitely not for people who can't- or don't want to- critically
evalaluate socio-ecomomic and cultural inequality, and it's potentially chilling ramifications.

Gleefully diabolical . . ........2007-01-18

This diabolical film by French director Claude Chabrol gives new meaning to the term "going postal." Nicely creepy from the very beginning, it's a bloody wreck in slow motion that you can see coming from a long way off. What mystifies is the exact form it will all take, and Chabrol does not disappoint. His two partners in crime (Huppert and Bonnaire) are a gleefully odd couple, and as irony would have it, the comfortably bourgeoise family that opens their doors to them is not all that unsympathetic - just rich and privileged in a way that is by nature annoying.

In the making-of documentary that accompanies the film on DVD, an avuncular Chabrol (resembling Hitchcock in his proportions) suggests that it could be characterized as "the last Marxist movie." Be that is it may, this one has the old master showing off his mastery of the suspense genre. The film is based on a novel by English crime-writer Ruth Rendell, and you gather from Chabrol's comments that he took considerable liberties with his source. For another free-wheeling adaptation of a Rendell novel, see Pedro Almodovar's "Live Flesh."

Left me cold .......2006-09-30

Perhaps one needs to be an afficianado of this genre to appreciate "La Cérémonie". When I saw it in the theater, I found it perplexing and disturbing, but not for the right reasons. Watching the progress of the relationships in this movie, I wondered why I was expected to feel even a shred of interest or sympathy for the sullen housekeeper or her manipulative friend.

**SPOILER**
Watching them shoot up what seemed to be a basically inoffensive family, parents and children, was, to be frank, disgusting. Made me think of Columbine. I will avoid Claude Chabrol's films in the future.

I'm giving it 2 stars as the benefit of a doubt that there might have been something here I missed. However, I cannot say that I enjoyed this film at all.

"I modeled as a kid. They didn't pick me.".......2006-03-02

A quote from Huppert's character may lead some insight as to what dangerous emotions are brewing inside the minds of two eccentric women, who become the deadliest of friends. It's like two ticking time bombs not going off on their own, until they are brought together. What happens when these two become acquainted, does not bode well for the upper class French family who took Bonnaire's character in as a maid.

I say ticking time bombs, as there was certainly something in each of these women's past. Something evil fell upon both of them alone, and the question is, which one of them were responsible for deaths occuring in their past, and which one was accident, or were they both no accident?

A lot of these questions do not get answered in this tension building shocker. The entire film is a set-up for the last few minutes, where Jacqueline Bisset and family are subject to first hand violence that can occur when these two ladies get together.

Although Chabrol had another film called The Color of Lies, the hidden secrets in this film seem to outnumber the ones in that one. It's a slow building but entertaining film, full of mystery, great performances, and a shocking ending. If you enjoy this, I would also view Nightcap (Merci Pour Le Chocolat) which I found it to be an even better film, with Huppert bringing tension to the lives of another upper class French family, this time, from the inside!

Charlie Rose with Dan Abrams; Dave Barry, Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard; Jacqueline Bassett (January 28, 1997)

Average customer rating:

Charlie Rose with Dan Abrams; Dave Barry, Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard; Jacqueline Bassett (January 28, 1997)

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

Dan Abrams of Court TV talks to Charlie about the final closing rebuttals in the O. J. Simpson civil case. Then, contributors Dave Barry, Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard talk about their humorous crime novel, Naked Came the Manatee. Finally, actress Jacqueline Bassett talks about her distinguished film career and a new project, La Ceremonie.

Average customer rating:

The Bourgeoisie and the Rebels
The rage of the underclass
Gleefully diabolical . . .
Left me cold
"I modeled as a kid. They didn't pick me."

La Cérémonie [Region 2]
Starring: Isabelle Huppert , Sandrine Bonnaire , Jean-Pierre Cassel , Jacqueline Bisset , and Virginie Ledoyen
Director: Claude Chabrol
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video