Le Journal D'une Femme De Chambre (aka Diary Of A Chambermaid) (2015)

A resentful Parisian chambermaid (Lea Seydoux) finds herself exiled to a position in the provinces where she immediately chafes against the noxious rigidity and pettiness of her high handed bourgeois mistress (Clotilde Mollet). But she finds herself attracted to the brooding anti Semitic groom (Vincent Lindon) on the estate. Based on the 1900 novel by Octave Mirbeau and directed by Benoit Jacquot (FAREWELL MY QUEEN). Mirbeau's novel, an attack on the slavery of domestic servitude and the decadent upper classes, has been filmed twice before. Jean Renoir directed it in 1946 with Paulette Goddard and Luis Bunuel directed it in 1964 with Jeanne Moreau. Both film versions were freely adapted from Mirbeau's book rather than adhere to the novel and indeed, this version has more in common with the 1964 Bunuel film than Mirbeau's book. I liked it well enough though I found Jacquot's style unsure of itself and parts of the narrative inconsistent. Luckily, Seydoux is very good and conveys a wounded animal's hostility though the script's final moments fail her. Her final act seems arbitrary. With Herve Pierre and Adriana Asti.