Live-In Maid (2004)
Runtime: 87 mins
Theatrical Release: Jul 18, 2007 Limited
Synopsis: This Argentinean comedy centers on the tenuous friendship between a woman and her maid. Though the former aristocrat finds her finances dwindling, she holds onto her maid as proof she still belongs to the upper class in Buenos Aires. This Argentinean comedy centers on the tenuous friendship between a woman and her maid. Though the former aristocrat finds her finances dwindling, she holds onto her maid as proof she still belongs to the upper class in Buenos Aires. [More]
Genre: Comedies
Starring: Norma Aleandro, Norma Argentina
DVD Info
Release:
Dec 4, 2007
DVD Features:
- Keep Case
- Widescreen - 1.85
Audio:
- Dolby Digital - Spanish
- Subtitles - English
Additional Release Material:
- Featurette - Behind The Scenes
- Trailer - Original Theatrical Trailer
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
Incisive study of class relationships between a pauperized would-be aristocratic woman and the maid who is increasingly ready to break free.
Live-in Maid is a study of two women who appear not to like each other very much, yet their link makes for a moving drama about friendship.
It paints a lovely, intimate portrait of a complex relationship and shows a side of Latin American life we rarely see on American screens.
From the rooms and spaces which house the two women to the slow unraveling of their history together, Live In Maid is a wonder of economic storytelling.
As a character study it carries a quiet, almost serene dramatic power as well as a strong current of dark humor.
If you care about the art of movie acting, run to the Charles to see Norma Aleandro bring tragicomic stature to the role of a haute bourgeois Buenos Aires woman fallen on hard times in Live-In Maid.
A vivid portrait of a society in the midst of wrenching change, but it transcends its immediate context to become a thoughtful, even unforgettable, chamber piece, performed with exquisite subtlety by two fine actresses.
Writer/director Jorge Gagggero has made a sensitive and lovely portrayal of two women.
Gaggero not only draws out such nuances from the two women but illustrates the complexities of their friendship with carefully constructed cinematography.
Live-In Maid is a modest chamber piece enriched by its affecting human harmonies and overtones.
Even if I knew how things turned out in Live-In Maid, a fine Argentinean film with English subtitles, I wouldn't give away the ending.
Live-in Maid is a fascinating directorial exercise in observing characters whose long history together is coming to an end.
Gaggero keeps his focus on the two women who, in order to survive, discover they must drop the facade of class and act upon their 30-year relationship.
An unexpectly affectionate study of friendship between two very different Argentinian women who come from two different social classes.
Dora and Beba both seem like real people, independent women who struggle to hide how dependent they really are.
Writer-director Gaggero shoots for a kind of docu-realism, with a few overtly cinematic interludes, like one well-paced split-screen sequence.
The economic and social crisis that rocked Buenos Aires is only obliquely referred to, but in the character of Beba -- so beautifully played by the great Norma Aleandro -- we see the image of Argentina: a dignified beauty laid low by economic catastrophe.
They [Aleandro and Argentina] take what could be clichéd characters and turn them into living, breathing people that viewers can care about.
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