13 April 2011

Les Femmes Du 6eme Etage


A charming, not to pretentious, story about a wealthy and very conservative, 'keeping-up-the-good-image' family - Jean-Louis Joubert (Fabrice Luchini) and Suzanne Joubert (Sandrine Kiberlain) - during the 1960's who employs a Spanish housekeeper - Maria (Natalia Verbeke) - at the time obviously 'à la mode' in Paris.

Peu à peu, the strict and correct 'facade' rifts and the husband in the family finds the more lively and positive Spanish women (a handfull is working in the same building) more interesting than his own family. Not least their life-stories during the reign of Franco, bluntly told by one of them, being a convinced communist and at first very negative towards 'le patron'.
Jean-Louis' teenage sons are two very spoiled brats, more conservative than their father, but not being able to dictate the terms for Maria. They initially find this arrangement totally unacceptable.
When the father leaves the apartment and moves in at the top of the building where the housekeepers have their rooms, the sons go nuts but in order to talk to their father they condescend themselves to climb the stairs, trying to reason their 'old man'. They don't succeed.
Finally the obvious happens: Monsieur falls in love with Maria and the traditional 'crossroad-dilemma' installs itself.

The story might seem trivial and it is but it's told with both humour and warmth, making it a rather delightful 'feel-good'-film for all ages, even if it tends to fall into the 'syrup'-trap from time to time.

The actors are very good though and this might have saved the story to some degree.

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