Director Buñuel is infamous for his many movies that are attacks on contemporary society--in particular, the evils of the idle rich and right-wing thinking. This movie along with Exterminating Angel, Belle de Jour, The Discrete Charm of the Boureoise and That Obscure Object of Desire along with MANY other of his movies all attack Western culture--focusing on its hypocrisy and wickedness. In general, Socialists and left-leaning thinkers tend to view his films a lot more favorably than Conservatives and the Church (that's putting it mildly).
Diary of a Chambermaid will not disappoint if this is what you are looking for in a film. Among the MANY vices of the characters in the film are fetishes, sexual repression, murder, rape and antisemitism. Our main character, the decent chambermaid (played by Jeanne Moreau) tries to do the right thing although by the end of the film the utter futility of this is revealed.
When I watched the film, I tried to ignore the fact that I do not share the director's world view. If you just look at this film alone, it is a pretty entertaining movie with excellent acting, an unusual and interesting script and excellent pacing. However, it also, from time to time, got a little annoying as, in Buñuel's world, nearly everyone is corrupt--especially the rich. That's because, in a way, they seemed cartoonish--lampoons instead of people. While I'm sure there are a lot of hypocritical and sleazy rich folks out there, it's almost like propaganda to portray ALL of them again and again so negatively. As a result, they are all boiled down to stereotypes. This one-dimensionality prevented the movie from receiving a higher rating than 7.
Diary of a Chambermaid will not disappoint if this is what you are looking for in a film. Among the MANY vices of the characters in the film are fetishes, sexual repression, murder, rape and antisemitism. Our main character, the decent chambermaid (played by Jeanne Moreau) tries to do the right thing although by the end of the film the utter futility of this is revealed.
When I watched the film, I tried to ignore the fact that I do not share the director's world view. If you just look at this film alone, it is a pretty entertaining movie with excellent acting, an unusual and interesting script and excellent pacing. However, it also, from time to time, got a little annoying as, in Buñuel's world, nearly everyone is corrupt--especially the rich. That's because, in a way, they seemed cartoonish--lampoons instead of people. While I'm sure there are a lot of hypocritical and sleazy rich folks out there, it's almost like propaganda to portray ALL of them again and again so negatively. As a result, they are all boiled down to stereotypes. This one-dimensionality prevented the movie from receiving a higher rating than 7.