Customer Reviews

The Housekeeper

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I almost gave up on this one forty minutes in. Don't you do that. The ending is superb.

Premise: working class girl gets dumped by her boyfriend and seeks work by housekeeping.

Well, that can lead to something better if you keep house for the right person.

Jacques (Jean-Pierre Bacri) who recently got walked out on by his wife, and who, not so incidentally looks sixty--well, fifty-five--(actually he was barely fifty when this was made, but you get the point) gets his ad for a housekeeper answered by Laura (Emilie Dequenne) who is twentysomething--a young twentysomething.

I guess there is not much else to say, and to be honest I decided I would force myself to watch the inevitable. But the director is Claude Berri who directed two of the best movies I ever saw: Manon of the Spring (1986) and Jean De Florette (1986).

And so I stayed with it. At about the fifty minute mark the movie started to get interesting. I could feel that old guy/young girl love affair was going to take an unexpected fork in the road. (As Yogi said, if you come to a fork in the road, take it. The players have no choice.) Obviously, old guy/young girl can end only one way: young girl leaves old guy for young guy. This is biology. It will be painful.

Claude Berri knows all this, and probably a lot better than I do. And so guess what?

Well, I won't tell. But you will find that the last thirty-some minutes of this sexy romantic comedy delightful, and especially the very, very clever and most satisfying ending.

Just prior to that Laura asks Jacques for his blessing. He won't give it, but she is right: he should. And then when we get the final "life is so...lifelike" grimace on Jacques's face, we can only smile.

Emilie Dequenne is delightful as the strangely wise and very natural Laura, and Jean-Pierre Bacri is winning as the old guy who knows better, but on reflection should thank his lucky stars.

You have to hand it to the French.They understand the psychology of relationships very well, if sometimes they delve too much into its analysis: The ups and downs, pains and joys, loneliness and longing,passion and distance, are all so well depicted in their films,of course with a dose of sensuality and a natural eroticism that is never gratitious.
Jean De Florette's Claude Berri directs an excellent Jean-Pierre Bacri,and a refreshingly sexy Emilie Duquenne in yet another tale about human relationships and analyzes it with enough subtely as not to make it too overbearing.
A lonely middle aged Bacri,freshly out of a relationship, hires a part time housekeeper who as his luck has it,is barely twenty years old and with an air of innocence and sexiness,a mixture enough to make any red blooded male take notice.And sure enough, Bacri who is experiencing a dull and empty existence takes notice.
Well,his spell of good luck does not end there, for as it happens,his young employee leaves her boyfriend,and as a result has no place to stay.After a slight hestitation, he agrees to her request to let her stay with him for a 'couple of days' until she finds an alternative accomodation, and other housekeeping jobs, which he tries helping her to find,(and ever the gentlemen even offers to give her his bed and sleeps on the couch).
Well, good fortune has something else in store for Bacri,for it is only a matter of time (indeed a very brief time) before Duquenne initiates sex, an offer he gladly accepts.Who said,as the old worn out cliche goes,that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach only? some good housework will not go amiss to the discerning lonely gentleman, provided of course the woman looks like Emilie Duquenne.
Anyway, he is still bothered confused and annoyed by his ex's constant harrasement,wanting him back,so he decides to go for a couple of weeks to the country to recharge his batteries.Either it is love or fear of abandonment or more likely both,Duquenne pleads with him to take her along,(as his lover and companion) an offer again he finds very hard to resist..(who would???)
Leading a quite and pleasent time by the seaside,their relationship has always from the start being ambigious, confused between a sexual companionship for two lonely people, and a long term possibilty.
Well, towards the end, Duquenne, either because she is quite liberal in her 'amours' or liberated through her brief relationship with Bacri,finds a much younger suitor, and with so much ease tells her middle aged lover that she likes and wants them both,an offer this time, he finds very hard to accept!!
The film ends with Bacri sitting between Duquenne and the middle aged mother of her new lover.
Powerful ending but leaves a lot to be desired at the same time.As is the tradition of many French films, we do not see a proper conculsion to the story, but then probably we do not need to, because at the end it is not about a happy or sad ending, but simply about the complexity of relationships, and of human condition, and that does not always have a clear and rational justification or ending.
Will Bacri move on and leave his lover to her new adventure, or will she think of lodging and security and moves back with him?? these possibilities are left by Berri for the viewers to conclude, as we leave the film with a sense of sympathy for both, and this I guess is much more vital.
So Housekeeper, is a warm, bittersweet and gentle film that will not dazzle you with any special effects or grandiose themes, rather it will engage you thoroughly with the simplest of plots ,about love,loneliness and what does one want and expect from a relationship,given the many variables and differences,and the fights and compromises one has to go through.Psychology on celluloid of the finest kind 'a la Francaise'

The world of Claude Berri's film "The Housekeeper" (La Femme de Ménage) is a melancholy, acidic, ultra self- reflective one. It is also a romantic and comedic world that harkens back to "The Apartment" and in particular the much maligned and neglected "Two for the Seesaw"(Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine): both from the early 1960's. Despite the difference of forty odd years between them, all three of these films share a common view of the world and that is: take what you can get, latch on to it when and if you get it and if it leaves, bid it a fond, though regretful farewell.
Jacques (Jean-Pierre Bacri) is a sound recording engineer (who wears ear plugs to block out the sounds of the night), still reeling from a recent divorce and Laura (Emilie Dequenne), a very young (20) woman who has come into Jacques's world, not only to clean his apartment but also to bring sex and love back into his life.
What is particularly refreshing about this film is that both Laura and Jacques are very realistic in regards to what they want from each other and fully comprehend the shortcomings and limitations of these desires. In other words they take full responsibility for their actions and that, in our current world of personal as well as national spin, is a welcome novelty.
Berri has been very astute in his choice of music also. The soundtrack is filled with middle period jazz that sounds like the 1950's and 1960's music of Dave Brubeck and Gerry Mulligan and adds a sonic equivalent of the stalwart romantic notions of the film itself.
"The Housekeeper" ends as it begins: with a wide open and vulnerable heart and a deep concern for it's characters that looks very much like loss but on closer inspection and introspection is really a formal, respectful accommodation for the foibles of what makes us all human.

I am constantly amazed at how French filmmakers are able to capture the essence of relationships within simple story lines. "The Housekeeper" is just one of those films.

Jean-Pierre Bacri plays a middle aged man, living in Paris, who is recently alone. His apartment becomes dirty and his solution although quite innocent becomes very complex. Bacri hires a youthful housekeeper, played brilliantly by Emilie Dequenne, and the story begins. At first the two lost souls appear to be from two different worlds, one childlike and innocent against the other so very harsh and bitter. As life progresses the two characters interconnect in a deep way that on the surface appears simply to be one of those silly French affairs of the heart. The simplicity of this film is also its brilliance.

Bacri allows his audience to see what a man feels during middle age; he conveys so much more than just a mid-life crisis. Through this actor's eyes we are able to find illusion, arrogance, and mindless sex turn into a life changing moment where the man left on the beach in the end is more than a simple shallow point. Against Bacri, Dequenne portrays her character with such naïve innocence the audience wants to reach in and protect her. In the end her youth protects itself with renewal and endless hope.

"The Housekeeper" is a French masterpiece more than worthy of your time. It presents the commonality and the distances between the ages as well as between men and women. It is certainly not a romantic comedy filled with American fluff but more a beautiful human story filled with nuances and depth that gives your mind a chance to breathe. So leave the dusting and vacuuming for a few hours and delve into this extraordinary film in order to find a new sense of energy.

Jacques is a fifty something Parisian sound engineer who hasn't quite gotten the hang of bachelor life. Tired of the mess in his apartment, he hires Laura as a housekeeper. Laura does her job well but brings complications to Jacques life when she looses her apartment and asks to sleep on his sofa. Jacques and Laura fall into a sexual relationship with ease. But Jacques has demons in the form of a cheating ex-wife who wants back in his life. Running away from his ghosts, Jacques flees to Brittany. Laura begs to come. She also begs Jacques to love her. Jacques remains indifferent, though tender and sweet. While in Brittany, Jacques discovers that his ex-wife slept with his best friend. Pre-occupied with his past relationship, Jacques does not notice until it's too late that Laura has slipped through his fingers and into the arms of a younger, happier man.

The Housekeeper is a subtle and sexy film, devoid of the cliches typical of older man/younger woman movies. Emotionally, it seemed like a French version of the good and underrated American movie and book, Shopgirl : A Novella/Shopgirl by Steve Martin. The older man sees the younger girl as a diversion from a stressful life-charming, but not quite a good fit. The hair isn't right. The clothes are wrong. He can treat her well, but can't imagine a future with her. And the younger woman is left asking "Why don't you love me?". In both The Housekeeper and Shop Girl the male/female characters are transformed-the girl grows up and realizes her self worth, the man realizes too late that he valued things that were unimportant and that may be the reason he's still chasing girls in his 50's. Having once loved a man ten years my senior, I could completely relate to the indifference that Jacques levels at Laura. This film felt very real, but it isn't a downer. Charming and wonderful, The Housekeeper is a keeper!

I LOOOOVE the recent batch of French films that have made it "big" over here: "The Taste of Others," "Un Air de Famille" and ESPECIALLY "The Dinner Game." But this? An utter bore that just doesn't do anything or go anywhere. Pass on this and instead definitely see the other three mentioned above.

Its difficult to categorise this movie. Even though it's defined as a comedy, in actuality it is not. It is a French movie & yet, it is not an art house movie. The story revolves around a sound engineer who is mourning over his breakup with his wife. He lives alone and due to his inability to balance his work and housekeeping, he engages a housekeeper to tend to his needs. As time progresses and as the housekeeper becomes emboldened, she requests to move into his house. She herself has been a victim of a relationship break-up as well. What would happen when two lonely persons are put into one confined space? Take a lucky guess. When both persons decide to take a holiday at Brittany, the sound engineer starts to warm up with the notion of having a stable relationship with the housekeeper whilst the housekeeper has an idea of her own. It is a study of two persons coming from two very different backgrounds, interests, and age groups. This is a movie of subtleties, where emotional hurt and pain are shown not of the harsh words they say towards one another but of unspoken words and yet, body language says it all. An open ended movie. It's definitely not everybody but nevertheless a well-made movie.

THE HOUSEKEEPER is a quiet French film that explores how people in emotionally vulnerable states make choices without considering consequences. Middle-aged, lonely, bored Jacques (Jean Pierre Bacri in a beautifully understated performance) is separated from his lover/wife, lives in a flat in Paris whose cluttered mess represents the state of his mind. By chance, he sees an ad for a Housekeeper, answers it, hires a young girl (Laura, portrayed by Emilie Dequenne) who has just been asked to leave her boyfriend's flat. Jacques adjusts to the Monday cleaner, increases her work days, and finally gives in to Laura's request to move in because she has no place to live. Jacques moves slowly and not without the advice of his friends who are equally adrift in the world of broken relationships. So by chance two opposites are brought together, becoming gradually involved as lovers, go away for a vacation for two weeks (a seaside resort) where Laura feels safe and free for the first time, and with that freedom she finds a new beau. Jacques and Laura discuss the laison and in the ensuing last days at the beach resort and find other chance happenings altering their lives.

Filmed with grace and honesty by Director Claude Berri, THE HOUSEKEEPER simply lets us watch the course of events in the lives of two needy people and how they play out. No preaching here, no major message - just a slice of life in contemporary Paris that is all the more touching for its quietly evolving intrigue of chance.

"The Housekeeper" is a French drama/romance set in Paris and the coast of Brittany. The premise is that a middle-aged man whose wife ran off with an unknown lover five months earlier, has finally decided he is tired of living in an unkempt house and wearing creased shirts, and hires a housekeeper. Fortune decrees that the girl is pretty, sweet, apparently undemanding, sexy and half his age. Nervous and attracted to her, he is unsure of himself, while she radiates confidence.

She ends a relationship with a boyfriend and moves in with her employer, ultimately seducing him. The two seem quite content until his wife returns and begs him to take her back. Not able to handle his ex, he flees on vacation to the gorgeous beaches of Brittany and takes the housekeeper with him. The relationship changes, she changes, and the movie ends on an uncertain note (though some will like it). Unlike most American movies where things are crystal clear and you know what happens to everyone, the French often end their movies with a question mark: you can draw your own conclusion for the outcome. So, the story can have virtually any ending you want. The purpose of the movie itself is to tell the story of the human condition, in this case their relationship and the realities of life.

The movie is well-done, the acting very good and the scenery is to die for. Recommended.

Wonderful film, poignant, beautifully filmed and acted. The equal to any Erich Rohmer film. Buy, don't rent, because you'll want to watch it again in a few years years.