The best thing coming from this Berri film is that plausibility and prediction conspire to improve a weak plot. The spectator, however, gets the surprise of his life when, in a sudden twist, the film reveals he has been watching the wrong movie. Give the kudos to the actors: sexily believable and deceitfully ordinary. Jacques and Laura, the main characters in this autumn-spring old line plot, early show their true self. She, young and beautiful, knows he is in a middle of a sentimental crisis. He, mature and confused, is never deceived by her egotist intentions. A sexual relationship is sure to occur, and so it does. But, it comes as a strange mix of feelings and desires, that the film never gets it clear. That's the relevance of this story: life cannot be deconstructed and explained in terms of art. Just the mirror, as the good Stendhal knew almost two centuries ago. Une femme de menage (more explicative than the English title) is a quiet thought on the passing of chances and the options we make; and a lecture on the futility of adapting our expectations to a self-deceitful sense of self-importance.
23 Reviews
Young female wanted to work in bachelor's flat. Won't have to do windows, only sex!
jotix1005 August 2003
Claude Berri's latest film that just arrived in America is tailor made for losers of a certain age. M. Berri's picture is a fantasy that most men, abandoned by their former partners, for whatever reason, can dream of a great affair with a Lolita-like woman, who also can clean and put order in their own messy lives.
Jacques lives alone, but he can't bring order into his own existence, after his wife leaves. He then decides to take a chance on an inexperienced young woman, who has more than cleaning in mind. Laure, the housekeeper, he hires, is a woman in need of a great make over. She is as plain, as she is decent; she doesn't even know how to clean the apartment with the vacuum cleaner, preferring to do it the old fashioned way.
Slowly, but surely, she begins to attract this lonely Jacques, until they end romantically involved. Just when one thought this was the romance of a lifetime between these two star crossed lovers, M. Berri has a surprise for us.
Both Jean Pierre Bacri, as Jacques, with his Beagle face and droopy eyes, and Emilie Dequenne, as Laure, are very good.
Jacques lives alone, but he can't bring order into his own existence, after his wife leaves. He then decides to take a chance on an inexperienced young woman, who has more than cleaning in mind. Laure, the housekeeper, he hires, is a woman in need of a great make over. She is as plain, as she is decent; she doesn't even know how to clean the apartment with the vacuum cleaner, preferring to do it the old fashioned way.
Slowly, but surely, she begins to attract this lonely Jacques, until they end romantically involved. Just when one thought this was the romance of a lifetime between these two star crossed lovers, M. Berri has a surprise for us.
Both Jean Pierre Bacri, as Jacques, with his Beagle face and droopy eyes, and Emilie Dequenne, as Laure, are very good.
Lite-Housekeeping
writers_reign17 February 2005
Yet another small gem from that great year of French pics 2002. The talent is out of the right bottle too if anybody asks you, writer director Claude Berri and male lead Jean-Pierre Bacri, no slouch as a writer himself. To a certain extent is IS a male fantasy with Emillie Duquenne all but throwing herself at Bacri who has to be twice her age at least. But, as others have pointed out in these boards Bacri is basically decent and certainly wasn't looking for a May-December affair only for someone to police his apartment. For reasons of her own Duquenne developed what seemed to be genuine hots for him and naturally he's not going to turn down an attractive young girl. There's no special insight nor is any attempted, it's just a record of a brief fling in which nobody really gets hurt and we get to see some pleasant Parisian locations and listen to some pleasing music. Lemon soufflé anyone.
Superficial fun
Chris Knipp12 July 2003
Warning: Spoilers
Claude Berri's Une Femme de Ménage (Housekeeper) takes us to a familiar world of contemporary French cinema: a casual, chic quartier of Paris where a successful fifty-something jazz record producer named Jacques (Jean-Pierre Bacri) lives in a very comfortable flat that's a very big mess because his wife has left him. He answers a notice tacked up on a neighborhood café and before long Laura (Émilie Dequenne), a twenty-something with a perfect, ripe body and cooperative good nature equally in evidence, is not only coming twice a week to clean and iron, but, because her boyfriend kicks her out, has moved in. Next thing you know she's offering that body to Jacques and when his estranged wife Constance (played in a tortured cameo by director Catherine Breillat) appears at the door and begs for a reconciliation, he decides to escape on a two-week vacation in Brittany at his artist-chicken farmer friend Ralph's place, and Laura begs to be taken along.
There is something charming about this moment when Jacques and Laura head for the seacoast, Laura packing the vacuum cleaner (`respirateur' in French) to practice (she's been using a broom, so she can enjoy hip-hop on the boom box; he's told her she must master the `respirateur' if she's going to get more work) - and insisting on getting herself a haircut and dye job enroute. She's very much a work in progress, and the uncertainty of her relationship with Jacques is interesting. It's so absurd you half believe it might work.
Laura is eager to please and so docile and loving, poor Jacques would have a new mate for sure if he didn't mind one twenty-five or thirty years younger whose taste runs to loud pop, junky TV, and trashy magazines. The dialogue in the car defines the uncertainty. He doesn't love her -- he'd be a fool to - but he likes having her around.
Ralph (Jacques Frantz) provides a whimsically eccentric note - he paints portraits of his pet chickens and then serves them for dinner; the house smells like a barnyard. But it also turns out, when Laura snoops in Ralph's bedroom and finds a ring with Jacques' name on it, that Constance has been there recently in her wanderings and has slept with Ralph.
The beach is what separates Jacques and Laura. She loves the water; he hates it. He covers up and reads while she plunges, and then she becomes a regular in volleyball games with two teams of well built young men. Late at night she insists that Jacques take her dancing. He meets an old woman friend there - also just abandoned by her mate. . . but this sounds more complicated than it is. What happens is that when Jacques says he's about to go back to Paris, where Laura, who can be anything she wants here, is only his housekeeper, Laura finds a young man, and is as ready to pair off with him as she was with Jacques.
Jacques meets the young man's mom on the beach. She's getting divorced. He's sympathetic. He goes for a swim to keep mom company. He gets a cramp in the water. She helps him out. Maybe they'll become a couple. THE END.
It's too bad this novel adaptation by the talented M. Berri trails off this way. There is real fun in the sense of possibility Laura's voluptuous appearance provides. In French movies, old, ugly men are deemed attractive: note that Laura's cute new boyfriend doesn't even have a speaking part. He's just a walk-on - or rather a run-off: he lopes down to the ocean with Laura and that's the last we see of him. This alone makes Housekeeper a fresh vision for American viewers.
However, there's hardly anything profound here, despite the French point of view, nor can Laura, whose nice body and youth are her chief coping skills, be seen as a liberated woman in the mold of Jeanne Moreau in Jules et Jim. Femme de Ménage is fun, but there's something hasty and condescending about it. An Eric Rohmer story probably wouldn't have the uneasy class aspects of Laura's inappropriateness for Jacques: age would the only factor (compare Claire's Knee). To see how hasty the story is, think of the sensitive and profound character study of a lonely man in Claude Sautet's 1992 Un Coeur en Hiver.
There is something charming about this moment when Jacques and Laura head for the seacoast, Laura packing the vacuum cleaner (`respirateur' in French) to practice (she's been using a broom, so she can enjoy hip-hop on the boom box; he's told her she must master the `respirateur' if she's going to get more work) - and insisting on getting herself a haircut and dye job enroute. She's very much a work in progress, and the uncertainty of her relationship with Jacques is interesting. It's so absurd you half believe it might work.
Laura is eager to please and so docile and loving, poor Jacques would have a new mate for sure if he didn't mind one twenty-five or thirty years younger whose taste runs to loud pop, junky TV, and trashy magazines. The dialogue in the car defines the uncertainty. He doesn't love her -- he'd be a fool to - but he likes having her around.
Ralph (Jacques Frantz) provides a whimsically eccentric note - he paints portraits of his pet chickens and then serves them for dinner; the house smells like a barnyard. But it also turns out, when Laura snoops in Ralph's bedroom and finds a ring with Jacques' name on it, that Constance has been there recently in her wanderings and has slept with Ralph.
The beach is what separates Jacques and Laura. She loves the water; he hates it. He covers up and reads while she plunges, and then she becomes a regular in volleyball games with two teams of well built young men. Late at night she insists that Jacques take her dancing. He meets an old woman friend there - also just abandoned by her mate. . . but this sounds more complicated than it is. What happens is that when Jacques says he's about to go back to Paris, where Laura, who can be anything she wants here, is only his housekeeper, Laura finds a young man, and is as ready to pair off with him as she was with Jacques.
Jacques meets the young man's mom on the beach. She's getting divorced. He's sympathetic. He goes for a swim to keep mom company. He gets a cramp in the water. She helps him out. Maybe they'll become a couple. THE END.
It's too bad this novel adaptation by the talented M. Berri trails off this way. There is real fun in the sense of possibility Laura's voluptuous appearance provides. In French movies, old, ugly men are deemed attractive: note that Laura's cute new boyfriend doesn't even have a speaking part. He's just a walk-on - or rather a run-off: he lopes down to the ocean with Laura and that's the last we see of him. This alone makes Housekeeper a fresh vision for American viewers.
However, there's hardly anything profound here, despite the French point of view, nor can Laura, whose nice body and youth are her chief coping skills, be seen as a liberated woman in the mold of Jeanne Moreau in Jules et Jim. Femme de Ménage is fun, but there's something hasty and condescending about it. An Eric Rohmer story probably wouldn't have the uneasy class aspects of Laura's inappropriateness for Jacques: age would the only factor (compare Claire's Knee). To see how hasty the story is, think of the sensitive and profound character study of a lonely man in Claude Sautet's 1992 Un Coeur en Hiver.
Every middle aged man's fantasy
=G=13 November 2003
He's 50ish, contended being recently single, and in need of a housekeeper for his small bachelor flat in Paris. She's young, beautiful, deliciously jiggly, most accommodating in every way, and in need of work. He hires her as a part time housekeeper and she slowly insinuates herself into his life while he simply enjoys her, keeping things in perspective in a most mature way. "The Housekeeper" is a delightful for-men-only slice of life flick which is a sweet little tonic for the male midlife crisis. Go ahead, guys. Admit you're human and enjoy. (B)
Not Quite De Maupassant
B2425 June 2005
Warning: Spoilers
But still a very good example, structurally, of a short story made into a full-length film.
As fantastic as the premise involved in a May-December romance may be, there is enough here to suggest a very common experience any middle-aged single man of reasonable looks and standing in life has encountered from time to time. Namely, it is not at all uncommon, whether in France or any other country, for young women to be attracted to older men. The cause is almost unimportant -- it just does happen.
Where this filmed short story finds its climax and denouement is in the equally common realization at some critical point that such a "menage" (to echo the French title) is at best fragile and unlikely to sustain itself for long. That point here is the protagonist's cramping up at the very worst possible time, just when it seems possible he could take a new course that holds the promise of resolving the tangle he has got himself into.
Sure, it's a simple film, very low budget -- but the beauty of it is how nearly perfectly it progresses as a story from beginning to end. Proof that a French film can be subtle and engaging without being complex at the same time.
As fantastic as the premise involved in a May-December romance may be, there is enough here to suggest a very common experience any middle-aged single man of reasonable looks and standing in life has encountered from time to time. Namely, it is not at all uncommon, whether in France or any other country, for young women to be attracted to older men. The cause is almost unimportant -- it just does happen.
Where this filmed short story finds its climax and denouement is in the equally common realization at some critical point that such a "menage" (to echo the French title) is at best fragile and unlikely to sustain itself for long. That point here is the protagonist's cramping up at the very worst possible time, just when it seems possible he could take a new course that holds the promise of resolving the tangle he has got himself into.
Sure, it's a simple film, very low budget -- but the beauty of it is how nearly perfectly it progresses as a story from beginning to end. Proof that a French film can be subtle and engaging without being complex at the same time.
Entertaining Film!
Sylviastel7 June 2013
This film is both comedy and a melodrama about a Parisian classical music producer who lives alone in his Paris flat. He hires a housekeeper without references or much experience. Jacques was brilliantly played by French actor, Jean-Pierre Bacri. The housekeeper, Laura, is perfectly played by Emilie Dequenne. Laura ends up moving into his flat where their musical tastes reflect their ages. They also have an intimate relationship which leads to a trip to Normandy Beach where they see his old friend. Most of the film is about Jacques and Laura's relationship. Jacques is overcoming from a painful breakup with his ex-wife. Laura needs a place to crash and he offers assistance. In the end, they become friends and lovers but I think they both needed each other's companionship for the loneliness felt at the time.
very good, though certainly not great, movie
planktonrules1 July 2005
Warning: Spoilers
This is a good film but because there are some plot holes it cannot rise much above this. It is the story of a middle aged (and rather DULL) man who has recently become single, as his wife left him for another. He's a busy man so he decides to get a part-time housekeeper to tidy up his little apartment. All seemingly goes pretty well until after a few weeks, the much younger housekeeper tells him she is now without a place to live and asks if she can temporarily stay with him. At first he says no, but quickly agrees.
So far, so good. Here is where the first problem with the plot occurs. Although they both tend to live rather separate parallel lives in the apartment, inexplicably they start a sexual relationship that seems to come out of nowhere. Apart from feeling grateful he let her stay, it is hard to understand the motivation she had for sleeping with him--he doesn't give very much of himself to her emotionally. For his part, he just seems to be using her for sex in the beginning. Over time, he begins to SLOWLY give himself over to her emotionally but he always seems to be holding back too much. Her intense love of him at this point is just too unbelievable. However, eventually, her love cools and by the end of the picture she's with another (whose mother then makes overtures to our male lead--thinking he's the housekeeper's father). This part actually rang much more true than the original love affair, as I just couldn't see what kept them together at all (despite excellent acting).
So far, so good. Here is where the first problem with the plot occurs. Although they both tend to live rather separate parallel lives in the apartment, inexplicably they start a sexual relationship that seems to come out of nowhere. Apart from feeling grateful he let her stay, it is hard to understand the motivation she had for sleeping with him--he doesn't give very much of himself to her emotionally. For his part, he just seems to be using her for sex in the beginning. Over time, he begins to SLOWLY give himself over to her emotionally but he always seems to be holding back too much. Her intense love of him at this point is just too unbelievable. However, eventually, her love cools and by the end of the picture she's with another (whose mother then makes overtures to our male lead--thinking he's the housekeeper's father). This part actually rang much more true than the original love affair, as I just couldn't see what kept them together at all (despite excellent acting).
A film for middle-aged men to see and for middle-aged women to say, "I told you so,"
Terrell-44 February 2008
Warning: Spoilers
If Une Femme de Ménage (The Housekeeper) is, as some critics have said, a French soufflé, it was made with bitter-sweet chocolate. This somewhat rueful, somewhat ironic and generally good-natured film is the story of Jacques Gautier (Jean-Pierre Bacri), a middle-aged sound engineer in Paris whose wife has left him for another man. Gautier is a reasonably fit, attractive, balding man still coming to grips with living a life without a wife. His apartment is a mess. So he decides to hire a housekeeper, someone who will come in once a week and clean up after him. The woman who answers his ad is 20-year-old Laura (Emillie Dequenne) who, it turns out, has never been a housekeeper but who needs a job. If Jacques is the kind of man who hurries to clean up his apartment before the housekeeper arrives, Laura is the kind of young woman who cleans more or less well while wearing very short skirts and tops that allow for a generous decolletage. It's not long before Jacques decides, accurately, that he needs his apartment cleaned more often than once a week, and that Laura sees him as someone she could like a lot. In fact, it's not too long before she confides that she must leave the place she shares because she's splitting up. She has no place to move to. Before Gautier is quite aware of the consequences, Laura has accepted his invitation to temporarily stay with him. And before long, as well as cleaning the apartment, cooking the meals and ironing his clothes, she's sharing his bed. Gautier doesn't object, really, especially when the wife who left him, played grimly by Catherine Breillat, shows up at his door and tells him she'd like to come back. Gautier is wise enough to have none of that.
When Jacques decides to get away and clear his head with a visit to an old friend on the Brittany coast, he suddenly finds Laura is accompanying him. For a 50-year-old man, having a 20-year-old lover has its advantages. Ah, but...when Laura wants to dance until midnight, Jacques begins to think about going to sleep at 10. When Laura sunbathes at the beach, Jacques remembers to wear his cap. When Laura urges him to go swimming in the ocean, Jacques can only think about how cold the water might be. When Laura enjoys her rock music at full volume, Jacques tries to listen to his classical music on low. The battle of the sexes combined with the battle of the generations was never more poignant. And when it's time to leave, and after Laura has taken to wearing Jacques' old wedding ring so that they can pretend to be married, Laura discovers a new truth. "In Paris I'm you're housekeeper. I feel good here. I want to stay." When Jacques says he must return to his job, Laura adds, "I've met someone." Poor Jacques. Is it with regret or relief that he finds himself sitting on the beach with Laura on one side and the mother of Laura's new friend on his other...the attractive mother who thinks Laura is Jacques' daughter. We know what Laura is going to do. Other than return to Paris, do we know what Jacques is going to do? Does Jacques know? For middle-aged men who think 20-year-old crumpets will bring new life and energy, they may want to avoid this movie. For everyone else, it's a pleasant and amusing excursion into rueful honesty.
One of the reasons the movie works so well is the performance of Jean-Pierre Bacri. He's a fine actor with a face that can look skeptical, quizzical and thoughtful, as well as, in some of his movies, tough. He reminds me a little in looks of Michael Ironside. Watch him in Place Vendome; he keeps us guessing whether he's a tough guy or a sympathetic guy. Emillie Dequenne gives us an uneasily pleasant portrayal of a young woman who doesn't want to hurt anyone, but, after all, believes life is meant to be enjoyed as it comes. However, it's the women of Jacques' own age who make interesting impressions, even in small parts. While Breillat might make us think twice, she's a vivid presence. The actresses who portray Claire, an old friend of Jacques', and the mother of Laura's new best friend, give us portrayals of such attractive, friendly sophistication that we hope the next time around Jacques sticks with his own age.
When Jacques decides to get away and clear his head with a visit to an old friend on the Brittany coast, he suddenly finds Laura is accompanying him. For a 50-year-old man, having a 20-year-old lover has its advantages. Ah, but...when Laura wants to dance until midnight, Jacques begins to think about going to sleep at 10. When Laura sunbathes at the beach, Jacques remembers to wear his cap. When Laura urges him to go swimming in the ocean, Jacques can only think about how cold the water might be. When Laura enjoys her rock music at full volume, Jacques tries to listen to his classical music on low. The battle of the sexes combined with the battle of the generations was never more poignant. And when it's time to leave, and after Laura has taken to wearing Jacques' old wedding ring so that they can pretend to be married, Laura discovers a new truth. "In Paris I'm you're housekeeper. I feel good here. I want to stay." When Jacques says he must return to his job, Laura adds, "I've met someone." Poor Jacques. Is it with regret or relief that he finds himself sitting on the beach with Laura on one side and the mother of Laura's new friend on his other...the attractive mother who thinks Laura is Jacques' daughter. We know what Laura is going to do. Other than return to Paris, do we know what Jacques is going to do? Does Jacques know? For middle-aged men who think 20-year-old crumpets will bring new life and energy, they may want to avoid this movie. For everyone else, it's a pleasant and amusing excursion into rueful honesty.
One of the reasons the movie works so well is the performance of Jean-Pierre Bacri. He's a fine actor with a face that can look skeptical, quizzical and thoughtful, as well as, in some of his movies, tough. He reminds me a little in looks of Michael Ironside. Watch him in Place Vendome; he keeps us guessing whether he's a tough guy or a sympathetic guy. Emillie Dequenne gives us an uneasily pleasant portrayal of a young woman who doesn't want to hurt anyone, but, after all, believes life is meant to be enjoyed as it comes. However, it's the women of Jacques' own age who make interesting impressions, even in small parts. While Breillat might make us think twice, she's a vivid presence. The actresses who portray Claire, an old friend of Jacques', and the mother of Laura's new best friend, give us portrayals of such attractive, friendly sophistication that we hope the next time around Jacques sticks with his own age.
My future and the solution to change it? (DVD)
leplatypus10 December 2010
As i liked miss Dequenne in "Rosetta" a long time ago upon recommendation of a Greek friend, i picked this movie. But as her filmography was just beginning, i didn't get a lot of choices either.
Actually, i realized that this movie could pass for my future as it tells the story of a sad mature single man in Paris. Outside his work, he has a very limited social life. His decision to hire a help woman leads him to find and use his love box and find happiness again.
This speaks to me and thus the movie become personal. This was my town (paris), my life (loner), my trait (grumpy) but this was also my heart (generous). I think it was a great plot to have a break in country because it brings more light and more shine in their romance.
A good french film, albeit it is forbidden for deaves with its lack of subtitles and the piano soundtrack is really horrible!
Actually, i realized that this movie could pass for my future as it tells the story of a sad mature single man in Paris. Outside his work, he has a very limited social life. His decision to hire a help woman leads him to find and use his love box and find happiness again.
This speaks to me and thus the movie become personal. This was my town (paris), my life (loner), my trait (grumpy) but this was also my heart (generous). I think it was a great plot to have a break in country because it brings more light and more shine in their romance.
A good french film, albeit it is forbidden for deaves with its lack of subtitles and the piano soundtrack is really horrible!
My 401st Review: Neither Modal Nor Major: an interesting premise, that delivers little
intelearts18 April 2011
A broken-down man, Jean-Pierre Bacri, is a man in a mess, both figuratively and literally. His constant hangdog expression and the state of chaos needs help.
He advertises for a cleaner and Émile Duchenne turns up. The cleaner is young and naif, the older man is world-weary.
Claude Berri chooses to direct Une Femme De Ménage as a very small piece and from decidedly reactionary suppositions. I dislike the notion here that the male is booth the provider and wiser, and that women need men to be complete. It may be what the film is about, but it is almost 1950s-sexism and I, for one, couldn't really get past it.
All in all, while I got the text and the subtext here, and it does against its the normal conventions of romantic comedies very well, it doesn't quite get as beyond as it aims might suggest.
For this viewer the ennui was good but the apparent lack of commitment, followed by the transformation, followed by a good denouement never quite gels - there is something here that irritates rather than intrigues. It wants to improvise but feels still very scripted - it can't quite make the leap. What we get at the end is a film about life as solipistic unsatisfaction disguised as a romantic comedy, which is a nice idea, but the film never quite carries the strenght of its own convicitonss.
He advertises for a cleaner and Émile Duchenne turns up. The cleaner is young and naif, the older man is world-weary.
Claude Berri chooses to direct Une Femme De Ménage as a very small piece and from decidedly reactionary suppositions. I dislike the notion here that the male is booth the provider and wiser, and that women need men to be complete. It may be what the film is about, but it is almost 1950s-sexism and I, for one, couldn't really get past it.
All in all, while I got the text and the subtext here, and it does against its the normal conventions of romantic comedies very well, it doesn't quite get as beyond as it aims might suggest.
For this viewer the ennui was good but the apparent lack of commitment, followed by the transformation, followed by a good denouement never quite gels - there is something here that irritates rather than intrigues. It wants to improvise but feels still very scripted - it can't quite make the leap. What we get at the end is a film about life as solipistic unsatisfaction disguised as a romantic comedy, which is a nice idea, but the film never quite carries the strenght of its own convicitonss.
Une femme tres necessiteuse plus un homme tres necessiteux =
cestmoi17 July 2003
A tender, surprising little film with superb performances, fine writing, good filmic qualities, and a superb music script, Une Femme... touches the veiwer, provides laughs, allows self-recognition, and shows the relative maturity of the experienced against the unintended heartlessnes of the young in a sophisitcated society. Very French. The man is intellectually prepared but still has to deal with the emotions of loss, despite the utterly ill-suitedness of his new love. The girl's neediness for approval and "love" demands his response, to which his kind and needy heart does what we expect.
A perfect slice of life as has defined French film for so long. Happily. And well. Chapeaux
A perfect slice of life as has defined French film for so long. Happily. And well. Chapeaux
A Classical French Movie
stimpy_tr23 January 2021
Atrophy and the trophy wife...
ThurstonHunger5 December 2003
A slow meditation on winter/summer affairs. Less overtly this could be seen as a look at rebound relationships. We get far more of sour Jacques' side than that of sweet Laura's but it seems that neediness bordering on desperation is all they have in common. This was one flaw for me.
I've seen this billed as a comedy...the laughs were harder to find than the romance. It may be that they were lost in translation...but at the same time I wonder if I am giving this film more credit than it's due. I see someone from Bucharest gave high marks to "Autumn in New York" which I will never rent. Well unless Joan Chen specifically orders me to do so...
Anyway, back to "The Housekeeper", my *wife* gave up on this film. I'd say that's a pretty strong damning of this as a "romantic comedy." I actually did like the fact that Jacques was neither a filthy rich gent...nor a filthy lech. In fact, he was the more hesitant one wading into the waters here. However, Laura was allowed the depth of a kiddie pool. Another problem for me...
Despite Jean-Pierre Bacri's frump and Emilie Dequenne's rump (sorry but really if we saw half of much of her mind as we did of her body that could have only helped this film) I can only manage a trois for this.
3/10
I've seen this billed as a comedy...the laughs were harder to find than the romance. It may be that they were lost in translation...but at the same time I wonder if I am giving this film more credit than it's due. I see someone from Bucharest gave high marks to "Autumn in New York" which I will never rent. Well unless Joan Chen specifically orders me to do so...
Anyway, back to "The Housekeeper", my *wife* gave up on this film. I'd say that's a pretty strong damning of this as a "romantic comedy." I actually did like the fact that Jacques was neither a filthy rich gent...nor a filthy lech. In fact, he was the more hesitant one wading into the waters here. However, Laura was allowed the depth of a kiddie pool. Another problem for me...
Despite Jean-Pierre Bacri's frump and Emilie Dequenne's rump (sorry but really if we saw half of much of her mind as we did of her body that could have only helped this film) I can only manage a trois for this.
3/10
Mid-Life Crisis in Music and Bed
noralee2 August 2003
"Housekeeper (Une femme de ménage)" is a wry commentary on mid-life relationships that teeters on being male fantasy wish fulfillment.
Writer/director Claude Berri uses visual and musical metaphors to show differences between characters, building on the central character's work as a sound engineer recording classical music and jazz.
Jean-Pierre Bacri recalls the mid-life crisis role he wrote for himself in "The Taste of Others." We are very slowly introduced to his stuck in the mud life and the cause for it, and then slowly see him come back to life to deal with his feelings.
Amusing touch that the titular nubile nymphet eschews modern conveniences in cleaning while listening to pounding hip-hop dance music. Her taste in music and manipulative need for a rent-free apartment is about all that's realistic about her.
Would a Hollywood version let everybody finally act their ages?
Writer/director Claude Berri uses visual and musical metaphors to show differences between characters, building on the central character's work as a sound engineer recording classical music and jazz.
Jean-Pierre Bacri recalls the mid-life crisis role he wrote for himself in "The Taste of Others." We are very slowly introduced to his stuck in the mud life and the cause for it, and then slowly see him come back to life to deal with his feelings.
Amusing touch that the titular nubile nymphet eschews modern conveniences in cleaning while listening to pounding hip-hop dance music. Her taste in music and manipulative need for a rent-free apartment is about all that's realistic about her.
Would a Hollywood version let everybody finally act their ages?
Well acted, very French relationship story
runamokprods29 December 2013
Warning: Spoilers
A bitter-sweet bit of French male fantasy, with enough wisdom and honesty to acknowledge there's a difference between fantasy and reality. Jacques is middle aged and lonely, having been dumped by his wife five months earlier. He responds by trying to behave as if he's fine, but his mess of an apartment tells otherwise. So he answers an ad for a housekeeper, and discovers the utterly sexy and adorable 20 year old Laura who gradually works her way past Jacques' emotional walls, into first his bed, and then, perhaps, his heart (why she'd fall for him is left a bit loose and hazy).
What raises this above the familiar are the lovely performances by the two leads, and Berri's willingness not to try to make the film more than it is – a simple tale of two very different people finding each other for a brief moment in the journeys of their lives.
What raises this above the familiar are the lovely performances by the two leads, and Berri's willingness not to try to make the film more than it is – a simple tale of two very different people finding each other for a brief moment in the journeys of their lives.
Not worth the time
eertnuor27 January 2004
This little French film is very little indeed: a lo-cal plot that is predictable and pointless, lighter than air. The client is a 1-note depressive and his housekeeper/girlfriend is a young thing/prop in a dreary 2-note story. What exactly is the point of the story or why we care about either of them is not clear. Skip it.
Only the French can make movies like this
DennisLittrell4 January 2006
I almost gave up on this one forty minutes in. Don't you do that. The ending is superb.
Premise: working class girl gets dumped by her boyfriend and seeks work by housekeeping.
Well, that can lead to something better if you keep house for the right person.
Jacques (Jean-Pierre Bacri) who recently got walked out on by his wife, and who, not so incidentally looks sixty--well, fifty-five--(actually he was barely fifty when this was made, but you get the point) gets his ad for a housekeeper answered by Laura (Emilie Dequenne) who is twentysomething--a young twentysomething.
I guess there is not much else to say, and to be honest I decided I would force myself to watch the inevitable. But the director is Claude Berri who directed two of the best movies I ever saw: Manon of the Spring (1986) and Jean De Florette (1986).
And so I stayed with it. At about the fifty minute mark the movie started to get interesting. I could feel that old guy/young girl love affair was going to take an unexpected fork in the road. (As Yogi said, if you come to a fork in the road, take it. The players have no choice.) Obviously, old guy/young girl can end only one way: young girl leaves old guy for young guy. This is biology. It will be painful.
Claude Berri knows all this, and probably a lot better than I do. And so guess what? Well, I won't tell. But you will find that the last thirty-some minutes of this sexy romantic comedy delightful, and especially the very, very clever and most satisfying ending.
Just prior to that Laura asks Jacques for his blessing. He won't give it, but she is right: he should. And then when we get the final "life is so...lifelike" grimace on Jacques's face, we can only smile.
Emilie Dequenne is delightful as the strangely wise and very natural Laura, and Jean-Pierre Bacri is winning as the old guy who knows better, but on reflection should thank his lucky stars.
(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)
Premise: working class girl gets dumped by her boyfriend and seeks work by housekeeping.
Well, that can lead to something better if you keep house for the right person.
Jacques (Jean-Pierre Bacri) who recently got walked out on by his wife, and who, not so incidentally looks sixty--well, fifty-five--(actually he was barely fifty when this was made, but you get the point) gets his ad for a housekeeper answered by Laura (Emilie Dequenne) who is twentysomething--a young twentysomething.
I guess there is not much else to say, and to be honest I decided I would force myself to watch the inevitable. But the director is Claude Berri who directed two of the best movies I ever saw: Manon of the Spring (1986) and Jean De Florette (1986).
And so I stayed with it. At about the fifty minute mark the movie started to get interesting. I could feel that old guy/young girl love affair was going to take an unexpected fork in the road. (As Yogi said, if you come to a fork in the road, take it. The players have no choice.) Obviously, old guy/young girl can end only one way: young girl leaves old guy for young guy. This is biology. It will be painful.
Claude Berri knows all this, and probably a lot better than I do. And so guess what? Well, I won't tell. But you will find that the last thirty-some minutes of this sexy romantic comedy delightful, and especially the very, very clever and most satisfying ending.
Just prior to that Laura asks Jacques for his blessing. He won't give it, but she is right: he should. And then when we get the final "life is so...lifelike" grimace on Jacques's face, we can only smile.
Emilie Dequenne is delightful as the strangely wise and very natural Laura, and Jean-Pierre Bacri is winning as the old guy who knows better, but on reflection should thank his lucky stars.
(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)
Delicious French Comedy-Wait'll You See the Chickens!
lawprof12 July 2003
Warning: Spoilers
While some Americans on lower rungs of the cultural ladder are clamoring for "freedom fries," those who appreciate the special verve and wit often the backbone of a good French film won't want to miss "Housekeeper" (the U.S. title).
What could have been little more than a ninety-minute sitcom sparkles both because of the fine performances of the two leads and the story which deviates from an anticipated trite line.
Jacques (Jean-Pierre Bacri) saw his marriage crumble when his wife departed. A recording engineer for both jazz and classical discs, he lives a messy life and needs a housekeeper. Responding to an ad he posted in a nearby cafe, Laura (Emily Duquenne) is about twenty years younger than Jacques and eager for the job. Actually desperate.
Despite a Luddite reaction against single male's best friend - the vacuum cleaner - Laura straightens out Jacques's flat. But then she asks to move in for a few days as her boyfriend is kicking her out solely because their relationship has ended (we never see this most unreasonable man).
One thing leads to another and, no surprise and not a spoiler, Jacques and Laura find themselves making passionate love. She clearly is deeply in lust with him and they take a holiday, motoring to the coast.
What happens next? - hey, see the film.
A man Jacques's age finding himself with a besotted, beautiful and very horny young woman would, in most stories, be either exploitive or lost in the fantasy of a perceived stroke of incredible fortune. Director Claude Berri gives Jacques a more interesting persona. He has no qualms or guilt about bedding the lovely Laura but he is neither the kind of man who takes selfish advantage of women nor the sort who takes leave of his senses. He's wholly appealing as a decent guy, not a cad or a fool.
Laura? Ms. Duquenne plays her character to perfection. She's the kind of ingenue most men want and fear and the daughter who can drive any parent to drink. BUT...she does windows!!!!!
Frederic Botton composed a brisk, very nice score.
"Housekeeper" won't show in many cities but put in on your "To Rent" list.
8/10.
What could have been little more than a ninety-minute sitcom sparkles both because of the fine performances of the two leads and the story which deviates from an anticipated trite line.
Jacques (Jean-Pierre Bacri) saw his marriage crumble when his wife departed. A recording engineer for both jazz and classical discs, he lives a messy life and needs a housekeeper. Responding to an ad he posted in a nearby cafe, Laura (Emily Duquenne) is about twenty years younger than Jacques and eager for the job. Actually desperate.
Despite a Luddite reaction against single male's best friend - the vacuum cleaner - Laura straightens out Jacques's flat. But then she asks to move in for a few days as her boyfriend is kicking her out solely because their relationship has ended (we never see this most unreasonable man).
One thing leads to another and, no surprise and not a spoiler, Jacques and Laura find themselves making passionate love. She clearly is deeply in lust with him and they take a holiday, motoring to the coast.
What happens next? - hey, see the film.
A man Jacques's age finding himself with a besotted, beautiful and very horny young woman would, in most stories, be either exploitive or lost in the fantasy of a perceived stroke of incredible fortune. Director Claude Berri gives Jacques a more interesting persona. He has no qualms or guilt about bedding the lovely Laura but he is neither the kind of man who takes selfish advantage of women nor the sort who takes leave of his senses. He's wholly appealing as a decent guy, not a cad or a fool.
Laura? Ms. Duquenne plays her character to perfection. She's the kind of ingenue most men want and fear and the daughter who can drive any parent to drink. BUT...she does windows!!!!!
Frederic Botton composed a brisk, very nice score.
"Housekeeper" won't show in many cities but put in on your "To Rent" list.
8/10.
Realistic depiction of a summer-winter love affair
SaxoTenor8 April 2005
Please, it's "aspirateur" not "respirateur". Having lived in France for many years I've seen similar situations develop countless times. I've also seen many Claude Berri films and he has got it down pat. It was pleasant to recognize the familiar Paris neighborhood scenes and to wax nostalgic over such familiar goings on. The two leads are most realistic and the supporting actors lend a tone of verité. All in all, a most realistic slice of life à la française. For anyone who has lived in Europe this film will be a pleasant reminder of the sophisticated approach and attitudes that the Europeans (especially the French)bring to situations such as the one depicted in this movie.
charming
aglaececile20 April 2006
This movie has a light plot and lightly written characters: a middle-class neurotic-grumpy-artist falling in love with his young-trashy-placid housemaid. There is a very fine line between lightness and shallowness and that movie can't avoid falling into clichés, especially regarding the world outside the two main characters (like: the ex wife sleeping with the best friend). But the actors Emilie Dequenne and Jean-Pierre Bacri are just so generous towards their characters that they make them real, and utterly lovable. They are captivating and make that little unpretentious movie an enchanting delight.
Life is what you can not expect
rollbird30 May 2007
A housekeeper, young and attractive, got into a relationship with her employer. It is because of her miserable situation of no where to stay? Or a true love happening? I doubt someone can give a clear answer. Maybe that's the nature of relationship. Something happens as it does.
What a great movie although a little sort of somber with the artistic twist. Maybe that's the philosophy of life. There is something unexpected however we cannot do anything about it. Why not let us face it with smile...
Forget about age of the characters. That is probably the shallow excuse to let those unexperienced people pretend they have understood what the director would like to deliver...
Highly recommended for those are still hoping but have to face the fact that life is not merely what people can hope for.
What a great movie although a little sort of somber with the artistic twist. Maybe that's the philosophy of life. There is something unexpected however we cannot do anything about it. Why not let us face it with smile...
Forget about age of the characters. That is probably the shallow excuse to let those unexperienced people pretend they have understood what the director would like to deliver...
Highly recommended for those are still hoping but have to face the fact that life is not merely what people can hope for.
French film, "The Housekeeper" in English. Nice diversion.
TxMike31 July 2006
Warning: Spoilers
It is a fact -- different cultures have noticeably different ways to tell stories. I've mostly always enjoyed French movies, because they have a fun, quirky sensibility about them, even hard-hitting ones like "La Femme Nikita." Here the movie opens in the apartment of Jacques (Jean-Pierre Bacri), middle age and balding, with a terminally messy living space. Probably ever since his wife left him just a few months ago for another man. One day, at the bakery, he sees a small ad for a housekeeper, calls her, they agree on 60 Francs per hour, and she starts Monday. He calls her during the day, to see how it is going, and had left her 240 Francs for 4 hours of work. She tells him it will require more than 4 hours. It ends up being 7 hours.
Pretty Belgian Émilie Dequenne, 20, plays Laura who becomes his housekeeper. She is a simple, pleasant sort who likes to listen to loud music when she cleans, and when she is doing nothing watches mindless TV. We find out that Jacques works in a recording studio and prefers classical music. He is more than twice her age, they have nothing in common, but ... a living space.
One day not too long after she starts working for Jacques, she needs to talk. Her boyfriend and she are breaking up and he wants her to move out. With no place to go and not enough income to rent her own place, she begs to stay with Jacques, temporarily.
That is where the story begins to unfold and complications arise. It would be easy to make this an ugly story with a much older man taking advantage of a girl, but it isn't written that way. It turns out to be a nice story with a very interesting development in the end. Worth a viewing if you can get the DVD. I found it at my public library.
SPOILERS FOLLOW. As they are settling into a platonic relationship in Jacques' apartment, one evening Laura approaches him in her night wear, sits next to him, and begins to kiss him. He, being lonely also, is very accepting. We see them wake up together the next morning, naked, we can figure out what happened. Laura appears to have fallen for this older man, tells him she loves him, makes him tell her back. But when Jacques' wife shows up after 5 months, wanting to be taken back, he will have none of it and takes his two weeks vacation to a resort area to stay with an old friend. There Laura being the girl she is runs with the younger crowd, eventually finding a boy on the beach that she likes and tells Jacques she is going with him. The folly of youth, the implausibility of a young girl really falling for an older man. Indignity is added when the boy's mother, on the beach, refers to Laura as his daughter. He doesn't correct her, he simply realizes how foolish he was to not realize the insincerity of Laura, still just a kid.
Pretty Belgian Émilie Dequenne, 20, plays Laura who becomes his housekeeper. She is a simple, pleasant sort who likes to listen to loud music when she cleans, and when she is doing nothing watches mindless TV. We find out that Jacques works in a recording studio and prefers classical music. He is more than twice her age, they have nothing in common, but ... a living space.
One day not too long after she starts working for Jacques, she needs to talk. Her boyfriend and she are breaking up and he wants her to move out. With no place to go and not enough income to rent her own place, she begs to stay with Jacques, temporarily.
That is where the story begins to unfold and complications arise. It would be easy to make this an ugly story with a much older man taking advantage of a girl, but it isn't written that way. It turns out to be a nice story with a very interesting development in the end. Worth a viewing if you can get the DVD. I found it at my public library.
SPOILERS FOLLOW. As they are settling into a platonic relationship in Jacques' apartment, one evening Laura approaches him in her night wear, sits next to him, and begins to kiss him. He, being lonely also, is very accepting. We see them wake up together the next morning, naked, we can figure out what happened. Laura appears to have fallen for this older man, tells him she loves him, makes him tell her back. But when Jacques' wife shows up after 5 months, wanting to be taken back, he will have none of it and takes his two weeks vacation to a resort area to stay with an old friend. There Laura being the girl she is runs with the younger crowd, eventually finding a boy on the beach that she likes and tells Jacques she is going with him. The folly of youth, the implausibility of a young girl really falling for an older man. Indignity is added when the boy's mother, on the beach, refers to Laura as his daughter. He doesn't correct her, he simply realizes how foolish he was to not realize the insincerity of Laura, still just a kid.
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