When Catherine Lelievre (Jacqueline Bisset) hires mousy and taciturn Sophie (Sandrine Bonnaire) as a housemaid, she thinks that she found a treasure. Mr. Lelievre (Jean-Pierre Cassel) seems to agree with her, pointing out that the maid just has yet to learn how to serve dinner correctly. Wealthy liberals, they treat her generously enough and expect diligence and reliability in return. However, Sophie didn't tell her new employers that she is dyslexic, and very soon she has terrible troubles with
even such supposedly ordinary things as shopping lists. She befriends outspoken postal clerk Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert), who occasionally helps her with the above-mentioned lists and tells her all sorts of gossip about the Lelievre family. Mr. Lelievre, who suspects that Jeanne opens their mail, tells Sophie that Jeanne was charged with the murder of her four-year-old daughter and though she was later acquitted, he can't believe in her innocence. Thus he forbids Sophie to invite Jeanne to the Lelievre house, and the tension between Sophie and her employers increases. What could have been a thriller in the hands of a different director, in the case of Claude Chabrol has become another witty and observant social commentary about the eternal confrontation between the rich and the poor. Ruth Rendell's novel A Judgement in Stone was previously filmed in 1986 in Canada. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
After only my first Claude Chabrol film I can see why he is sometimes known as the French Alfred Hitchcock. La Cérémonie is based on the Ruth Rendell book "A Judgement in Stone", I'm not going to reveal too much about the plot because this is one of those films which really does benefit from knowing as little as
possible. Instead just watch two of the great French actresses of recent times as the story builds with tension to the chilling finale.
August 29, 2008
Emily B.
Super Reviewer
Another Chabrol film, like Les Biches, which I can't just watch a bit of - I sit down and watch until the end. I can't say that about very many movies.
No quotes approved yet for La Cérémonie (A Judgement in Stone). Logged in users can submit quotes.
Submit a Quote from 'La Cérémonie (A Judgement in Stone)'
A quote can be a single line from one character or a memorable dialog between several characters. Please make your quotes accurate. Quotes will be submitted for approval by the RT staff.
Example:
Luke: Alright. I'll give it a try. Yoda: No. Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.
Top Critic
