Celestine is a chambermaid who slowly lays bare the toxic underbelly of a fading aristocratic family. She humors the lady of the manor in her ministrations over staff and house; the lady’s dold father in his predations of animal and maidservant; and the estate’s gardener in his fascist enthusiasms.
In Luis Buñuel’s attack on provincial French values, Jeanne Moreau’s pitch-perfect performance exudes a mock-obedience and petulant sensuality, deliciously unmasking bourgeois hypocrisy. Keep your eyes peeled for a droll cameo from scriptwriter Jean-Claude Carrière as a flustered country priest!