La cérémonie (1995)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Claude Chabrol

Writers:

Ruth Rendell (novel)
Claude Chabrol (writer) ...
(more)

Release Date:

20 December 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Sophie, a quiet and shy maid working for the upper-class family Lelievre, hides her illiteracy under the cloak of a perfect household and obedience...

Plot Keywords:

House | Maid | Brittany | Illiteracy | Duo

Awards:

7 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Isabelle Huppert	...	Jeanne
Sandrine Bonnaire	...	Sophie
Jean-Pierre Cassel	...	Georges Lelievre
Jacqueline Bisset	...	Catherine Lelievre
Virginie Ledoyen	...	Melinda
Valentin Merlet	...	Gilles
Julien Rochefort	...	Jeremie
Dominique Frot	...	Madame Lantier
Jean-François Perrier	...	Priest
Ludovic Brillant
Claire Chiron
Claire-Marie Dentraygues
Jean-Pierre Descheix
Penny Fairclough
Alain Françoise
David Gabison
Pierre Gondard
Claire Ifrane
Philippe Languille
Philippe Le Coq	...	Philippe
Joëlle Legua
Christophe Lemoine
Christine Melcer
Sarah Maze-Lauray
Mélanie Maudire
Serge Rousseau
Yves Verhoeven	...	Delivery Boy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Samuel Ramey	...	Don Giovanni, from opera broadcast (uncredited)

Directed by
Claude Chabrol

Writing credits
Ruth Rendell		(novel "A Judgment in Stone")
Claude Chabrol		(writer) and
Caroline Eliacheff		(writer)

Produced by
Christoph Holch	....	co-producer
Marin Karmitz	....	producer
Ira von Gienanth	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Matthieu Chabrol

Cinematography by
Bernard Zitzermann

Film Editing by
Monique Fardoulis

Production Design by
Daniel Mercier

Art Direction by
Daniel Mercier

Costume Design by
Corinne Jorry

Makeup Department
Cédric Chami	....	hair stylist
Cédric Chami	....	makeup artist
Jocelyne Lemery	....	hair stylist
Jocelyne Lemery	....	makeup artist
Thi-Loan Nguyen	....	hair stylist
Thi-Loan Nguyen	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Yvon Crenn	....	production manager
Catherine Pierrat	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Pierre Armengol	....	assistant director
Cécile Maistre	....	first assistant director
Anne Perron	....	assistant director
Daphné Rosenbom	....	assistant director

Art Department
Didier Dubedout	....	assistant decorator
Pierre Galliard	....	assistant decorator
Ivan Niclass	....	assistant set decorator
Vincent Stadelmann	....	assistant decorator
Marie Taulen	....	assistant decorator
Jean-Paul Trincat	....	assistant decorator

Sound Department
Christian Fontaine	....	sound assistant
Jean-Louis Lebras	....	sound assistant
André Naudin	....	foley artist
Gadou Naudin	....	foley artist
Philippe Richard	....	sound assistant
Jean-Bernard Thomasson	....	sound
Claude Villand	....	sound

Special Effects by
Dominique Colladant	....	special effects
Jean-Pierre Moricourt	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Eric Baraillon	....	electrician
Jean-Pierre Baronsky	....	electrician
Eric Bonnaire	....	grip
Sophie Charrière	....	assistant camera
Fabienne Delaleau	....	assistant camera
Jean-Baptiste Dutreix	....	grip
Michel Garçon	....	electrician
Vincent Kotwas	....	aerial photographer
Jérémie Nassif	....	still photographer
Charlet Recors	....	aerial photographer
Dominique Robert	....	grip
Michel Thiriet	....	camera operator
Richard Vidal	....	electrician

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Anne-Marie Castaño-Padovan	....	costumer
Paule Mangenot	....	costumer
Hélène Robin	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Florence Poulain	....	assistant editor
Olivier Rossignol	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Laurent Petitgirard	....	musical director

Other crew
Bruno Bernard	....	administrator
Olivier Bouthillier	....	partnership
Aurore Chabrol	....	script supervisor
Aline Corneille	....	administrator
Nathalie Gorgon	....	assistant press attache
Henry Le Turc	....	administrator
Eva Simonet	....	press attache
Richard Verganzonez	....	caterer
Gisèle Vuillaume	....	administrator

Production Companies

• France 3 Cinéma
• MK2 Productions
• Olga Film GmbH
• Prokino Filmproduktion
• Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)

Distributors

• Argentina Video Home (Argentina) (video)
• Eurocine (Argentina)
• Filmes Lusomundo (Portugal)
• Hispano Foxfilms S.A.E. (Spain)
• Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Look Filmes (Brazil) (video)
• New Yorker Films (1996) (USA) (subtitled)

Other Companies

• Agfa Gevaert Pyral  sound film
• Centimage  titles and opticals
• DCA Audiovisual  re-recording
• La Bande Rythmo - P.S.S.  post-synchronisation
• Samuelson Alga Cinéma  camera equipment provided by
• Studios de Billancourt  auditorium
• Studios de Billancourt  editing
• Transpalux  electrical equipment

Also Known As:

A Judgement in Stone
Biester (Germany)
Blutiger Engel (Germany)

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

France | Germany

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | Portugal:M/16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Saint-Coulomb, Ille-et-Vilaine, France

Company:

France 3 Cinéma

Trivia:

The film Jaqueline Bisset and Valentin Merlet watching is Les noces rouges (1973).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Chacun son cinéma ou Ce petit coup au coeur quand la lumière s'éteint et que le film commence (2007)

A respectful and intelligent film

I don't know much about Claude Chabrol's cinema. I've seen seven or eight of his dozens of films, but I remember them quite well, especially "Violette Nozière", "Le boucher" and "La rupture." Many years after these, "La cérémonie" is a serene work, the construction of a mature man who avoids making artificial judgments or explaining motivations of his characters, and tending traps to his audiences to keep them interested in what he's narrating. In an economic way, with well-chosen details he gives us everything needed in a story that deals with psychological disturbances and profound social disparity. I do not see this movie as a thriller nor do I see the connection with Alfred Hitchcock. While Hitchcock could almost ruin his forays into psychological landscapes (like Simon Oakland explaining Norman Bates' behavior in "Psycho" or placing clues that led to nowhere) and very rarely treated social issues, Chabrol prevents from recurring to psychological clichés and gives us subtle gestures to illustrate the "class struggle": the way the rich daughter returns the handkerchief to the post-office clerk after cleaning her filthy hands; the way the post-office clerk throws back an envelope to the bourgeois father. A few times Chabrol is not so subtle and he shows tension even between persons of the same class: the way the poor maid and the post-office clerk despise the miserly charity of an old Catholic couple, the way the rich father protests when giving his son a ride to school... Using this strategy, all the portraits are compassionate: the members of the rich family seem as pleasant as the two poor women when they share the little they have. When the climax arrives -the daughter of the bourgeois family discovers (part of) the maid's secret and, in return, the maid reveals she also knows something about the young woman- there is little else Chabrol can add, but only guide us to the conclusion. Maybe there is a much too obvious cut from the two women with no food at home, to the dinner table where the rich family finished a tasty meal. That's all we need, in case we want an explanation to why the way the two women act in the last scenes. All the elements are there for us to find answers or make interpretations if we want to do so. Not too many filmmakers today treat audiences as intelligent human beings and invite them to participate in the creative process adding the absent information, with the benefit of more than a century of cinematic tradition and –if we care- reflections on the way things are today in imbalanced societies. When "La cérémonie" was over, I was very pleased: not only did I watch a movie directed with brains, but I felt treated with respect by Claude Chabrol. Not frequent in much of today's cinema, a respectful film has great merit.