Diary of a Chambermaid
Director: Jean Renoir
Year Released: 1946
Rating: 3.0
A chambermaid (Paulette Goddard) is hired by a wealthy family to wait on them - during her tenure, she's chased after by several men, but develops an attachment to the sickly Georges (Hurd Hatfield). Though not Renoir's greatest effort, it's a good (and efficiently presented) glance at the resentment the servile develop toward their masters - Goddard's character dreams of the day in which she is able to support herself, but by legitimate means, which is something the chain-smoking, callous Joseph (Francis Lederer) knows nothing about. The conclusion is a slight let-down in that it more or less solves the chambermaid's dilemma via contrivances (and that Goddard isn't exactly the most moral character in the world), but at least it's bound to annoy the Judith Anderson matriarch (best known as Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca). Heresy alert: I prefer this to the Buñuel version.
