The effect is a haunting vision of neediness, age and rejection.
The Housekeeper(Une femme de ménage)
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
France · 2002
Rated R · 1h 31m
Director Claude Berri
Starring Jean-Pierre Bacri, Brigitte Catillon, Jacques Frantz, Émilie Dequenne
Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
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After his wife leaves him for another man, Jacques hires a housekeeper, Laura, to keep his Paris apartment in order. As he starts increasing her hours and spending more time with her on her days off, Jacques is torn between the pleasure of Laura's company, and the headache that such an intrusion brings to his new domain of singlehood.
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What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Washington Post by Desson Thomson
Even if the film is only moderately enjoyable, it can create a sort of exotic escapism.
Dallas Observer by Jean Oppenheimer
Although meant as a light comedy-drama in which both characters are sympathetic, The Housekeeper instead proves irritating.
It may be an old story, but Berri draws fresh poignancy from this December-May romance by identifying so empathetically with Jacques.
Understated, quietly amusing, and steadily paced.
The film is extremely well-acted, and Berri is very good at demonstrating why the relationship is doomed.
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
By the end, you may marvel at the film's worldly-wise wink of maturity. You may also think, Is that all?
New York Magazine (Vulture) by Peter Rainer
Berri is very good at bringing out his characters' emotional contradictions so that we seem to be discovering them right along with Jacques and Laura.
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
Fits squarely into a Gallic tradition of wistful, worldly-wise comedies that reflect on the weakness of the flesh.
Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea
Possession, humiliation, jealousy, revelation . . . they're all painted in light, swift strokes by the veteran director and his two stars.
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