Murderous Maids

This is one of the first movies i saw when i moved to Paris 3 years ago, and after hundreds of other ones, i couldn't tell why it still keeps a special place in my heart. Maybe it's Sylvie Testud's acting, absolutely astonishing, or the disturbing end, i don't know. The fact is i didn't forget and that's why i'm writing it here. This is a film to be watched, but maybe not to be loved... I rated it 8/10, cause of the memory, and Sylvie Testud, whom from this time i don't miss any film she plays in.

I first saw an English version of this film many years ago with Joely Richardson playing Christine and the ever so cute Jodhi May as Léa. It was on by chance that I happened on the French version Les Blessures Assassines in a Blockbuster store. After watching it, I bought a copy. Though I liked the English version, very much, I was completely swept away by the French movie, and Sylvie Testud.

Testud, who plays Christine Papin in the film, has got to be one of the most stunning women in film today. Not only is she beautiful to look at, her acting is stellar. She takes you inside the mind of Christine Papin, whether it really happened that way or not. Also a great performance from Julie-Marie Parmentier who plays her younger sister Léa Papin.

I was simply riveted. I am now a HUGE fan of Sylvie Testud and having seen Le Château on cable, I have ordered La Captive on DVD.

I watched this movie a lot of times and all that can I say this is so powerful and fierce even though it is based on a true story. Sylvie Testud's performance in this movie is absolutely amazing! Even her sex scenes with Julie-Marie Parmentier are all emotional, and I can't see any traces of incestuous sex in it, making it as my most favorite love scene ever! The murder scene, on the other hand, looks like scary to me in a slightly manner. I also salute to the director of this film for having an excellent and amazing film.

Film is based on the infamous Papin case which rocked France in 1933. In the town of Le Mans, Monsieur Lancelin, a retired solicitor, lived with his wife and daughter. Seven years earlier, the family had hired two sisters as maids, the elder Christine and younger Lea. Madame Lancelin was strict and would wear white gloves to check for dust and there was surprisingly little personal interaction between the family and maids. One afternoon Monsieur Lancelein came home to pick up his wife and daughter for a dinner engagement and found the door bolted. After awhile police got in through a back window. They found the bodies of Madame Lancelin and her daughter; heads bludgeoned beyond recognition and legs carved like pieces of French bread. Weapons were a pewter jug, hammer and knife. Unique to this case, was the fact that their eyes had been gouged out while they were alive. The maids were found upstairs and confessed. The younger had twice blown out the house fuse and feared reprisal from the mistress of the house. The maids attacked them both when they arrived home; the younger following what the older did. The case became a cause celebre in France as an example of the cultural chasm between employer and servant. The case was also made into a play The Maids by Genet and another film - Sister My Sister. Interesting that all psychiatric testimony about the pair (incest and an extremely dysfunctional background and family) was dismissed by the small town jury but later resulted in such evidence being admitted into French trials.

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This is the story of the Papin sisters - whose tale inspired a play by Jean Genet and several earlier movies. This is probably the most historical of any of the previous attempts at the telling. Christine and Lea are sisters from a working class broken family in France, a family that has always been `in service.' When Christine expresses a desire to go into a convent like her older sister, the mother screams, `You'll slave for others the way I have.' As Christine tries to protect her younger sister from the world, her blank face in the presence of her rich employees does little to hide her growing bitterness and rage. Sylvie Testud as Christine gives one of the best performances to be seen in recent years. This is a drama of individuals, and - a rarity in these times - a clearly political drama about class conflict. See it despite the tabloid title given to its U.S. release.