La femme de chambre du Titanic (1997)

Director:

Bigas Luna

Writers:

Cuca Canals (scenario) and
Jean-Louis Benoît (scenario) ...

Release Date:

14 August 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Romance

Tagline:

There was more than one love story on the Titanic.

Plot:

Horty, a French foundry worker, wins a contest and is sent to see the sailing of the Titanic. In England...

Plot Keywords:

Titanic | Foundry | Jealousy | Travelling Players | Imagination

Awards:

7 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Olivier Martinez	...	Horty
Romane Bohringer	...	Zoe
Aitana Sánchez-Gijón	...	Marie
Didier Bezace	...	Simeon
Aldo Maccione	...	Zeppe, Actor
Jean-Marie Juan	...	Pascal
Arno Chevrier	...	Al
Marianne Groves	...	Mathilde
Didier Bénureau	...	Simeon's Secretary
Alberto Cassadie	...	Giovanni
Giorgio Gobbi	...	Manu
Yves Verhoeven	...	Gaspard
Vincenzo De Caro	...	Lacroix
Salvador Madrid	...	Leon
Barbara Lerici	...	Blanche

Also Known As:

The Chambermaid on the Titanic (Canada: English title) (USA)
Das Zimmermädchen der Titanic (Germany)
L'immagine del desiderio (Italy)
La camarera del Titanic (Spain)
The Chambermaid (USA) (promotional title)

Runtime:

Argentina:100 min | France:101 min | Poland:88 min

Country:

France | Italy | Germany | Spain

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | France:U | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Trieste, Friuli - Venezia Giulia, Italy

Company:

UGC YM

Goofs:

Factual errors: When the Titanic is seen leaving the dock, smoke is coming from four funnels. On the real ship, the fourth smokestack was a dummy.

Soundtrack:

King Neptunes March

Chamber Maiden Voyage

Perhaps one of the most intriguing stories to board the Titanic craze is this exquisite tale of a foundry worker and a chambermaid. Never actually setting foot on the famed vessel itself, the action centers on a night in a Southampton hotel the night before the ill-fated vessel left England for the first and last time. That night, roomless title maid Marie who works for the line not the hotel) knocks on the door of handsome Horty, who has won a contest at the French foundry where he works and is rewarded with a trip to see the eventful sailing. Because Horty's boss has eyes for his lovely wife Zoe, she remains at home, leaving Marie and Horty to their own devices.

Horty returns home having been faithful, but is unsure if his wife has done the same. From then on, Horty's barroom revelations of his encounter with Titanic and maid become more and more embroidered. Both to anger Zoe and to please his audience, Horty's stories become nothing short of hallucinatory. After the liner's sinking, Horty's fate is sealed as a virtual one man show, relating what is now nearly all fiction, including his presence on the ship the night it went down.

But the fickle hand of fate that took the Titanic to a watery grave has just as unexpected plans for Horty and Zoe, who now "plays" Marie in a full-length stage production of Horty's story. The final act of this impressive motion picture is just as dramatic and humbling in it's way as the story of the liner itself.

Director J.J. Bigas Luna peppers this French language feature with water imagery, forshadowing the Titanic's fate and a crucial plot point for Marie and Horty. A letterbox video release is terrific except for that the subtitles are a bit small. See it on a bigscreen TV. Although, there's no sinking to gape at, the human drama is also of titanic size.