The Maids

Starring:Glenda Jackson, Susannah York, Vivien Merchant, Mark Burns
Director: Christopher Miles (II)
Studio: Kino Video
Product Type: DVD

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A dark drama
Transforming labor
The Cruelty of Longing
Tortured Souls
Powerful performances

The Maids
Starring: Glenda Jackson , Susannah York , Vivien Merchant , and Mark Burns
Director: Christopher Miles (II)
Manufacturer: Kino Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00008HCAH
Release Date: 2003-04-01

Customer Reviews:

A dark drama.......2006-02-10

This is a special American Film Theater production of a stageplay. Some outdoor scenes have been added. The setting is in Paris. The time span covered is one day, from early morning to late evening.

A woman lives in an upscale neighborhood in Paris. She has two maids to take care of cleaning and cooking. The maids have developed a habit of role playing while madam is away from home, alternately taking turns to play madam and interact with a maid. They get into her clothes, her makeup, and her jewelry, but must time themselves to have everything back in order before madam returns home.

In their twisted minds, the maids have developed a plot. They send an anonymous letter to the police denouncing the woman's lover and having him arrested. He is dragged away as the play opens. They then plot to give the woman sleeping pills in her tea (heavily sugared). An obvious tragedy as the woman is distraught over the arrest of her lover.

But things go very wrong. A judge releases the man on bail. They cannot get the woman to drink the tea as she flitters about her room. She then rushes out to meet the man, leaving them alone. They are afraid the letter may be traced back to themselves as the woman intends to check the paper and ink.

You must watch carefully to understand what is going on. The maids go into one final episode of role playing that is taken to an ultimate climax. The play has a dark ending as the maids lead themselves into their own destruction. The play is not for everyone. Some people will not like this type plot.

Transforming labor.......2005-11-02

One of the highlights of the American Film Theatre: Susannah York, Glenda Jackson, and Vivien Merchant at their best. Genet's play is powerful even when read. It's staggering to watch it when so capably performed.

After watching "The Maids", can one go to work unchanged? Is it a surprise that both Jackson and York are described now in Wikipedia as politially leftist? Despite their creative ceremonies, Claire and Solange's labor remained joyless. Without help, their escapes became self-destructive.

Being a worker is no easy problem, whether for Claire and Solange or for the rest of us. Efforts to improve the lot of workers seem to flounder whether the worker is alone or has sizable allies. We are so acustommed to inferior working conditions and so pained when we reflect upon it, that we typcially find a way to make do. We pity Solange and Claire and see them separate from us. We know how to survive.

In 1926, Henri De Man in "The Psychology of Socialism" analyzed the psychological conditions of workers. In one chapter, "Joyless Labor", he identified the problem that often occurs when one is paid well enough but left with one's needs unsatisfied. Genet has dramatized that problem. Claire's tea is hardly a satisfactory resolution. The problem remains unanswered and we need to get back to work.

The Cruelty of Longing.......2004-05-26

When I saw this film, I was pathologically attracted to the intense longing haunting each of the three main characters. Both Suzannah York and Glenda Jackson project an exquisite pathos that left me tingling with desire I've rarely experienced in front of a television set. Vivien Merchant glows with knowledge of the simple fact of her power over the lives of her filthy, animalistic subjects. She may be a mere mortal, and not royalty, but she nevertheless treats Solange and Claire with an insidious disdain that drives the film. She is one of the elect and they are...whatever, it isn't important.

Solange and Claire never complete their homocidal pantomimes with one another because they rely too heavily upon the pleasure inherent in the acts themselves. The rituals allow them escape and closeness that is otherwise denied them in their daily occupation as maids for an insensitive, psychologically cunning mistress.

Genet's play was based upon the case of the Papin Sisters, Christine and Lea. These were two incestuous sisters who worked as maids in Le Mans France in the early 1930's. Between them, they butchered both the woman of the house and her daughter. Christina dominated her sister yet cried out for her in prison.
The psychological bond between Christina and Lea led no less a personage than Jacques Lacan to write about them just after the murders.

This film is a bit of a conceit, because the dialogue is far smarter than one would expect from such lowly creatures. Of course, the joy is observing the great care and tremendous fun that each actress has with the words. Indeed, words are poison teasingly administered in a game of protracted strangulation that needs no precise denouement to bring on the flowers of oblivion.

Tortured Souls.......2004-01-09

This review refers to the Kino Video DVD edition of The American Film Theatre's production of "The Maids"....

The American Film Theatre's Ely Landau, has brought to film and DVD a series of outstanding and thought provoking plays. One of these, written by Jean Genet, considered by many to be a genuis of the genre, is the very intense and complex study of class distinction,"The Maids". I was so floored by the depth of emotions portrayed by these phenominal actresses, that I viewed this film twice in just the last couple of days. The second time around I appreciated it even more than the first.

Glenda Jackson and Susannah York, are sisters, and both are servants to Vivien Merchant, a demanding socialite. Solange and Claire have grown to hate "Madame",for her degrading treatment of them and neverending belittling of their station in life. Their desire to be the ones in power have them role playing whenever Madame is away.Acting out an intense psychological drama in Madame's bedroom, they take the game to the limits of vengefulness, never actually following through to their desired result..the death of Madame. How far will these tortured souls go to achieve their need for revenge?

These three actresses will take your breath away with the intenseness of their performances. You will hang on every word of the brillant dialouge and get caught up in their every movement. Director Christopher Miles exquistly brings this play to film. One thing that really struck me was the use of mirrors throughout the film. There were times when a reflection in a mirror, startled me into seeing something I hadn't noticed before. And of course, our hearts are always in our throats, thinking that Madame, will arrive home at any minute, during the sister's "games".

The DVD by Kino is excellent. The film is nearly 30 years old, but has a nice clear letterboxed picture, with very good colors.The dialouge is always clear and distguishable. There's interviews and essays, all in the form of notes, which are most informative and give a good background on the play and it's author.

This is a cinematic experience, not to be missed, by anyone who appreciates fine filmmaking, with thought provoking material.

Thanks..and...enjoy...Laurie

Powerful performances.......2003-09-11

The productions of the American Film Theatre have long been unavailable for viewing, either commerically or via broadcast. This filmed production of Jean Genet's 'The Maids' is arguably one of the best of the series. Glenda Jackson and Susannah York play sisters Solange and Claire, two maids, who take turns dressing up as their mistress (played by Vivien Merchant) and abusing each other in a parody of the master/slave relationship. Since the source material is a stage play, the plot is dialog driven, and in lesser hands this would have been excruciatingly dull. But Ms. Jackson and Ms. York (and Ms. Merchant) give full-throttle performances, and Christopher Miles' skillful direction never lets the tension lag for a moment as the secrets of the sisters are revealed one by one. If you require an editing cut every four or five seconds, this is not the movie for you. If you want to see three great actresses taking it to the limit, buy this film.

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Maids In Dream Vol 2

Manufacturer: Hot Storm
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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The Definitive Papin Film
I don't ever want to see this movie again!
A Profoundly Moving, Gripping Tale of Class Unrest and the Impact of Social Marginalization
HYPNOTIC...DEPRESSING...SHOCKING...
"So this is what a maid is..."

Murderous Maids
Starring: Sylvie Testud , Julie-Marie Parmentier , Isabelle Renauld , Dominique Labourier , and François Levantal
Director: Jean-Pierre Denis
Manufacturer: Homevision
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000AQS4F
Release Date: 2003-09-23

Customer Reviews:

The Definitive Papin Film.......2007-06-24

"Murderous Maids" is the second film I've seen about France's Papin sisters, two domestics who, in the early 1930's, savagely murdered their employer and her daughter. Slightly superior to "Sister, My Sister", Britain's Papin film, "Murderous Maids", based on the book "L'affaire Papin", not only possesses a greater degree of psychological sophistication, but is more historically accurate. That being said, "Murderous Maids" (or, more correctly, "Les Blessures Assassines") more or less winds up being a showcase for the sublime performance given by Sylvie Testud, who, despite no physical resemblance, brings us as close as I believe is humanly possible to touching the strange entity that was Christine Papin--and it's about as close as most people would want to get. Julie-Marie Parmentier as co-star is dutifully overshadowed, much as her character Lea lived in the shadow of her older sister Christine in actual life. Their love scenes are both sweet and sexy, which makes for an intriguing juxtaposition to the off-putting gruesomeness of the murders. While these women (particularly Christine) felt victimized by their lowly social status, their chaotic family romance (manipulative, self-absorbed mother; absent father) played a parallel role in determining their (and their employer's) unfortunate fate.

I don't ever want to see this movie again!.......2007-06-08

As one reviewer said below, this is one movie you only need to see once...and once is enough! I don't know why I was able to stomach "Sister My Sister"--another movie based on the same events--and not this one.

A Profoundly Moving, Gripping Tale of Class Unrest and the Impact of Social Marginalization.......2007-05-02

Murderous Maids
MURDEROUS MAIDS (LES BLESSURES ASSASSINES) is a tremendously powerful look at the complexities and subtleties underlying the 1933 murders committed in Le Mans, France by the Papin sisters. Though the film has all the ingredients that could easily have made it an exploitative potboiler (incest, lesbianism, murder), it is anything but that!! INSTEAD, it is a film that studies in quiet detail a relationship between two sisters marginalized by society because they are merely maids and how their repressed "selves" explode when they reach their breaking points. In terms of the social context of the characters, these women are voiceless and repressed outside the confines of their meager quarters in the attic of their employer. The bond that they develop is as much out of revolt against society as it is out of profound desire and genuine love for one another. In the hands of a less astute director, the film would have failed. But, in the hands of director Jean-Pierre Denis, it triumphs boldly. The true burning center of the film is actress Sylvie Testud. Her performance as the elder sister whose alliance with her younger sister turns into a case of amour fou, is positively riveting. She is by turns taciturn and passionate, fiercely intelligent and wildly insane, profoundly sad and deeply in love. There were times while watching her on screen when I truly forgot that I was watching a performance. I honestly believed she was this woman she was playing. This has only happened to me one or two times in my film-watching life, and it stunned me this time more than ever before. Though the crime these women are guilty of is horrific and the relationship they develop is problematic, their story is totally compelling and the film is extraordinary.

HYPNOTIC...DEPRESSING...SHOCKING..........2005-06-29

This film tells the tawdry story of the notorious Papin sisters, and it is quite a story. In early 1933, a crime of dreadful and shocking brutality stunned the nation of France, and its citizens watched in horror as the facts unfolded. The Papin sisters, Christine and Lea, stood accused of savagely murdering their employer, Madame Lancelin, and her daughter, Genevieve, in the household where they worked as maids.

In late 1933, the trial resulted in the elder sister, Christine, being convicted of both murders and sentenced to death, a sentence later commuted to that of life in prison. She would die four years later in an asylum for the criminally insane. Her younger sister, Lea, was also convicted, but only of the murder of Madame Lancelin, and was sentenced to serve ten years of hard labor. She served eight years of her ten year sentence and was then released, living to a ripe old age.

In the film, the viewer sees that the sisters came from a totally dysfunctional household. Their mother, the selfish and unloving Clemence (Isabel Renauld), kicked her alcoholic husband out the household, when she discovered that he had been molesting their oldest daughter, Emilie. She then placed their three daughters in a Catholic orphanage run by nuns. Clemence, relieved of the day-to-day responsibility of her daughters, would see them on occasion.

Emilie eventually decided to become a nun. When Christine later expressed an interest in following in Emilie's footsteps, her mother quashed that notion. Instead, as Christine (Sylvie Testud) grew older, Clemence looked to her as a source of income, hiring her out to work as a maid. The viewer sees the deadening effect of her servitude, as her employers treat Christine as a virtual nonentity. Initially, Christine tested the patience of some of her earlier employers to whom she was, at times, slyly insolent. Later, she resorted to passive-aggressive behavior.

As time passes, however, Christine becomes more superficially accepting of her lot in life. Yet, the viewer can see an embittered Christine internalize her resentment, frustration, and dissatisfaction with her situation. Eventually, Christine's relationship with her mother totally deteriorates, and it is clear that there is little love lost between the two. Consequently, Christine grows up to be a tightly wound young woman, polite, reticent, and quiet, but seething with a strong current of emotion beneath the surface.

After a number of jobs as a maid, Christine finally finds a post with the well-to-do Lincelan family in the town of Le Mans. When Lea (Julie-Marie Parmentier) grows older, Clemence seeks to place her as a maid, as well. Having vowed that she would always look after her younger sister, Lea, Christine hatches a scheme. Not wanting to be separated from her sister, Christine manipulates her employer and ensures that Lea is placed with her in the Lincelan home.

At first, all seems well, although they find themselves looking for ways of circumventing the pettiness of their employer's frugality towards them. Then, Christine and Lea's relationship begins to change. Eventually, the somewhat dim Lea would come under the total domination of her sister. They would spend all their time together, and their close, sisterly relationship would develop a sexual component, leading to a shocking, incestuous relationship, with Lea always following Christine's lead.

One day, Madame Lincelan and her daughter return home unexpectedly, while Christine and Lea are engaged in activities other than their chores. When Christine goes to head them off at the pass, all hell breaks loose, as she takes some pretty extreme action towards them. Lea joins her in forever silencing the petty despots who had ruled their lives with an iron fist. These whirling dervishes of destruction would show no mercy.

This is a very well acted film. Sylvie Testud turns in a bravura performance as the edgy, emotionally repressed, and mentally unbalanced Christine. Julie-Marie Parmentier lends a dewy innocence to the role of Lea. The rest of the cast likewise gives excellent performances. The cinematography is suitably neutral in tone, lending a stark, austere quality to the film. This is a film that will keep the viewer riveted, but in the end it can hardly be said to be enjoyable in the accepted sense, as the emotions that it conjures are so disquieting. Still, this is a deftly directed, well acted film that is certainly worth seeing, especially if one is a true crime aficionado.

"So this is what a maid is...".......2005-02-01

"Murderous Maids" is the true story of the notorious Papin sisters who brutally murdered their employer and her daughter in 1933. The film begins with sisters Emilia and Christine dragged off to a convent school where Emilia begins to take her vows as a nun. The Papin family is a troubled one. Emilia was raped by her father, and the rest of the film makes us wonder what happened to Christine (Sylvie Testud) to make her commit the horrible crime she was eventually tried for and found guilty.

Clemence (Isabelle Renauld), Christine's mother, isn't exactly a saint either. Christine expresses an interest in becoming a nun too, but that notion is squashed by her mother who stands to profit from her daughters' employment. One senses that being a nun--while not exactly a burning desire for Christine--is at least preferable to a life of servitude as a maid. Christine becomes a servant in the homes of the wealthy, and the only joy in her life is her younger, not very bright sister, Lea (Julie-Marie Parmentier). Christine is extremely protective of Lea, and this protectiveness mutates into an incestuous lesbian relationship between the unhappy pair.

I can't say that I enjoyed this film very much--but at the same time I do recognize the fact that it's extremely well made and well acted. However, that said, the film is painful and depressing to watch. Christine's life of servitude is full of misery. She is constantly under the watchful gaze of a series of petty-minded employers who monitor every move she makes. One employer even goes to the extremes of wearing white gloves and wiping the furniture to see that it's perfectly clean. Christine and Lea eventually share a dismal bare attic room where they even have to resort to hiding the light bulb--another extravagance their demanding employer, Madame Lincelan (Dominque Labourier) considers wasteful.

Personally, I find the servant-master relationship distasteful, corrupting, and unnatural at best, but Christine's lot is beyond reason. She becomes silent--completely dehumanized--and yet she's held to the highest of standards and expected to intuit her employers' every petty whim. To them she is less than human--and that's what she becomes. And as Christine satisfies her employers' demands, they fail to heed the warning signs. Nothing, however excuses the brutal murders and violence that occur in the household. The film evokes pity and then dismay as one realizes that Christine feels trapped, and there's an inevitable, horrific event waiting to happen. Sylvie Testud delivers a chilling performance as the twitchy, deeply troubled Christine--a miserable girl who suppresses all her emotion until it tragically explodes--displacedhuman

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Ding-Dong/Merry Maids of the Gay Way
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Director: James R. Connell , and W. Merle Connell
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000FUF6YA
Release Date: 2006-08-01

Description

Nudies & Cuties in Big-Time Burlesque! Oo-o-o-o la la! If you love beautiful girls, head on over to The Moulin Rouge Theatre in Oakland, California, and make a date with Illona, "The Bavarian Orchid," in Ding Dong (aka Night at the Moulin Rouge)! It's an evening of Snappy, Spicy, Socko Adult Entertainment featuring such Shapely Strippers and Dance-Happy Dolls as Jennie Lee, Iva Pratt ("The Beautiful Belle of the Blue Ridge Mountains"), Pat Flannery, Doreen ("The Bashful Blonde with the Beautiful Bend") and The Red Mill Cuties! Joining them is the Baggy-Pants Comedy of ace funsters George "Bettlepuss" Lewis, Charlie Crafts, and Little Jack Little! So, c'mon boys, don't be shy! Step right up and go Ding Dong!

Product Description

Netherlands released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: Portuguese (Dolby Digital 2.0), Dutch (Subtitles), English (Subtitles), WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SYNOPSIS: Five maids in São Paulo are observed in this episodic, impressionistic film. The women interact with each other, ride busses, work, and have longings: Rai for a husband, Créo for her lost daughter, Roxane for a career in modeling. Quitéria is naive, a gull for thieves. Cida has a husband and also a lover. While each woman gets what she wishes for (more or less), it doesn't always make things better. As Roxane says, no child sets out to become a maid. But once there, are all other doors closed? SPECIAL FEATURES: Trailer(s), Interactive Menu, Cast/Crew Interview(s),

sweet asian cuties are sexy maids at your service 2

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sweet asian cuties are sexy maids at your service 2
Starring: na
Director: na
Manufacturer: juicyplum inc.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Sweet Asian Cuties Are Sexy Maids At Your Sirvice 1

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Sweet Asian Cuties Are Sexy Maids At Your Sirvice 1

Manufacturer: Shami Productions
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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The Maids [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Australia ]

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The Maids [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Australia ]
Director: Christopher Miles
Manufacturer: Umbrella Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Product Description

Australia released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: English (Dolby Digital 2.0), WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SYNOPSIS: This adaptation of Jean Genet's THE MAIDS was part of the American Film Theater series, conceived in the 1970s by producer Ely Landau and meant to be shown theatrically just like a play, with tickets sold in advance. The film stars Glenda Jackson and Susannah York as two sisters named Solange and Claire who work as maids for their strict Madame. However, when Madame leaves the house, the two sisters dress up as their masters and take turns humiliating one another as the surrogate Madame. This masterpiece of the absurd blends Genet's acerbic existentialism with cutting surrealist humor. SPECIAL FEATURES: Trailer(s), Posters, Photo Gallery, Interactive Menu, Featurette, Cast/Crew Interview(s),

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