Other Titles • A Judgement in Stone • La Cérémonie • The Ceremony
Synopses for A Judgement in Stone (1995)
1.
In the 1960s and early '70s, Claude Chabrol was celebrated as the Gallic Hitchcock for his crisp, character-rich thrillers. La Cérémonie, his 1997 hit adapted from Ruth Rendell's novel A Judgement in Stone, is a return to form, an assured domestic drama set in the upper-class household of the kind but condescending Lelievres family. Sandrine Bonnaire, excellent in an enigmatic, uncommunicative role, stars as their new, neurotically silent maid Sophie. She performs her duties efficiently and emotionlessly, staring out from behind an implacable, mask-like face born of loneliness and defensiveness. Isabelle Huppert is the town's gleefully misanthropic postmistress Jeanne, a gossipy, energetically insolent misfit who hates the Lelievres. When she becomes Sophie's best friend, her pathological game of taunts and gossip goes into overdrive with her sudden access to their house, and an already simmering class conflict boils over in unleashed anger. Chabrol charts the cascade of mischief and misunderstandings to its shattering conclusion, with a sensitivity to character and an eagle-eyed remove that makes the explosive climax all the more chilling. It's a devastating thriller, one of Chabrol's best, and a powerful portrait in hate and psychosis pushed over the edge in misunderstanding, manipulation, and mistrust. Jacqueline Bisset is the fumbling but sincere Mme. Lelievres, Jean-Pierre Cassel her complacent husband, and Virginie Ledoyen (A Single Girl) their sensitive young daughter. --Sean Axmaker
2.
In Claude Chabrol's LA CEREMONIE, the wealthy Lelievre family live in a grand estate in the calm isolation of the French countryside. All that lacks in their lustrous lifestyle is the perfect maid, who they believe to have found in the shy and recalcitrant Sophie (Sandrine Bonnaire). The match seems to be perfect and Sophie proves to be "a bit bizarre, but a real pearl" according to Madame Lelievre (Jacqueline Bisset). Sophie remains distanced from the family and only comes out of her shell when she meets Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert), the spirited and gruff local postal clerk with a grudge against the Lelievres. The two spark a friendship based on their mutual distrust of the slightly aloof Lelievres and they soon learn that they have similar secret pasts. But as Sophie and the postal clerk work themselves into a veritable frenzy of hatred and disdain, Sophie hides an even more troubling secret that fills every moment of her life with shame and terror, and only serves to increase her antagonism towards the Lelievres.
Claude Chabrol masterfully guides what starts as a seemingly slight drama into his patent Hitchcockian terrain of explosive psychological melodrama, all couched within a brutal yet detached critique of the bourgeoisie. Bonnaire is icily terrifying as the intense and mysterious Sophie, and both Huppert and Bisset give powerhouse performances in this vision of the evil that lurks just below the surface of civilized society.
3.
Un Film De Claude Chabrol
In La Ceremonie, Claude Chabrol, known as the "French Hitchcock," creates one of his most shocking and unforgettable thrillers. Catherine (Jacqueline Bisset, Day For Night, The Deep) hires the illiterate Sophie as her maid. But Sophie soon falls under the influence of the mysterious Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert, The Piano Player, Merci Pour Le Chocolate), and the stage is set for a tale of murder, violence, and betrayal. One of Chabrol's most acclaimed films, and winner of numerous international awards, La Ceremonie is a masterpiece of suspense.
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