Sophie Bonhomme and Jeanne are two women with very, very important secrets. Sophie, a maid for the well-to-do Lelièvre family, may have killed her father. And Jeanne? Her young daughter. When the two inevitably meet, they form a friendship that plummets towards tragedy...and the deaths of five people. Claude Chabrol's La Cérémonie is based on two sources: the real-life murder case of Christine and Lea Papin, two French maids who killed their employer's wife and daughter, and the 1947 Jean Genet play also inspired by the Papin case entitled The Maids. Curiously, while Genet and his fellow French intellectuals saw the Papin case as symbolic of class struggle, Chabrol seems to sympathize with the wealthy Lelièvre family. Sure, they might be stuffy and occasionally pompous, but they frequently offer Sophie help and go out of their way to be kind to her. Of course, much like the real life case, Sophie was largely dominated by her counterpart in crime. Jeanne is a venomous influence whose charisma is so infectious that the audience can't help but feel drawn to her at the beginning of the film in the same way that Sophie was. The film's strength comes in its insidious subtlety. A shocking revelation about Sophie occurs around thirty minutes into the film that leaves us shaking our heads wondering how we could have possibly missed the very obvious signals and hints dropped earlier. And then there is the almost casual manner in which Sophie and Jeanne first confront each other about their respective "secrets." La Cérémonie is an absorbing experience and a late career triumph for Chabrol.
8/10
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