Capital Celluloid 2023 — Day 167: Fri June 16

Diary of a Chambermaid (Buñuel, 1964): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 8.55pm


This film, which also screens on June 2nd, is part of the Michel Piccoli season at BFI Southbank. Yoiu can find all the details here.

Chicago Reader review:
Oddly enough, Jean Renoir’s 1946 Hollywood version of Octave Mirbeau’s novel was a lot crueler and more “Buñuel-esque” than this, Buñuel’s own remarkable and neglected 1964 French version. It was the first of his many fruitful collaborations with screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere and producer Serge Silberman, and, if I’m not mistaken, his only encounter with ‘Scope (in black and white). Formally and thematically, this is one of Buñuel’s subtlest and most intriguing late works; the novel’s action is updated to the 30s and includes a commentary on the French fascism of the period. Jeanne Moreau plays the heroine, and others in the cast include Michel Piccoli, Georges Geret, and Francoise Lugagne. The absence of a musical score makes Buñuel’s use of sound especially beguiling.
Jonathan Rosenbaum

Here (and above) is an extract.

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