A tale for Christmas following the laws of the genre ... all is supposed to end well at Christmas. Interesting for the historical setting and details: a typical building in Paris, with a different family on each level (in increasing order of wealth) and the maids who live together in rooms on the last floor, 3 weeks after the end of the first world war. The point of view is mostly that of the maids, and a variety of plots intertwine, while some still hope for the return of the missing men, mourn the dead or reorganize their lives without them. Lively conducted, even though characters are on the average (but not all) a bit too nice and concerned to be true. The hidden motherhood aspects of the story were too common a fact of those times, and I have known one such maid, some 40 years later. We learned of her son (then aged fifty) at the opening of her will. A pleasant story, watchable by all, extremely well served by an excellent cast of (mostly) theater actors.
