X
- 2019
- TV-MA
- Kino Lorber
- 1 h 42 m
- 2019
- TV-MA
- Kino Lorber
- 1 h 42 m
Summary In her feature debut, theater director Lila Avilés turns the monotonous work day of Eve (Gabriela Cartol), a chambermaid at a high-end Mexico City hotel, into a beautifully observed film of rich detail. Set entirely in this alienating environment, with extended scenes taking place in the guest rooms, hallways, and cleaning facilities, th...
Written By: Juan Márquez
- 2019
- TV-MA
- Kino Lorber
- 1 h 42 m
- 2019
- TV-MA
- Kino Lorber
- 1 h 42 m
The Chambermaid
81
7.4
Where to Watch
Summary In her feature debut, theater director Lila Avilés turns the monotonous work day of Eve (Gabriela Cartol), a chambermaid at a high-end Mexico City hotel, into a beautifully observed film of rich detail. Set entirely in this alienating environment, with extended scenes taking place in the guest rooms, hallways, and cleaning facilities, th...
Written By: Juan Márquez
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 12 Critic Reviews
81
92% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
8% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 12 Critic Reviews
81
92% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
8% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The film’s style is austere — there are few camera movements and no musical score — but its visual wit and emotional sensitivity lift it above the minimalist miserablism that drags down so many well-meaning films about modern workers. After you’ve seen it, the world looks different.
Measured in its pacing but never stagnant, The Chambermaid quietly fleshes out Eve’s subconscious with actions rather than words.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 12 User Ratings
7.4
67% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
25% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
8% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 12 User Ratings
7.4
67% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
25% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
8% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
La vida secreta de los empleados "invisibles" de un hotel. Narrado en un tono casi documental sin score musical, sigue la rutina diaria de una camarera y su ocasional interacción con sus compañeros y los huéspedes. Una que no hay que perder de vista, a pesar del ritmo pausado que puede exasperar al espectador sediento de acción.
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Like the metropolis that sprawls out far below the rooms she cleans, the film quietly pulses with life. And like Eve, we are left hoping she has a larger part to play in that world beyond smoothing blankets and folding toilet paper ends into perfect little triangles.
Cartol gives a very persuasive performance as Eve, whose inner life is always simmering and bubbling under, while she must maintain a facial blankness as cloudless and pristine as the towels and sheets.
Director Lila Avilés has designed her debut feature, The Chambermaid, to give audiences the opposite opportunity, inviting us to step into the shoes of an invisible woman for two hours, and as such, her film is a rare and special thing.
Lila Avilés’s film reserves the possibility of flirtations with disaster to turn into acts of emancipation.
Shot almost entirely within a hotel, the film operates as a low-budget answer to “Roma,” Alfonso Cuarón’s much-lauded film that also centers on the life of a domestic worker.
"There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away..."
-Emily ****
If you understand those lines, you will appreciate this thoughtful, gentle look at a young woman's life that has its share of pathos and missed chances and hope and endurance. You'll never look at 'housekeeping' the same.
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The Chambermaid 2018 ★★★
Watched Jul 05, 2022
Luis_989’s review published on Letterboxd:
65/100
The Chambermaid encapsulates its main character's experience in a single place that exemplifies her loneliness, her struggle and the grueling routine of a working woman like herself.
Does being treated like an invisible being make you one?
This is a portrait of the thankless and underpaid job of a chambermaid. Compared at the time to Alfonso Cuaron's Roma, but they couldn't be any more different.
The Chambermaid is more focused on her character's experience rather than trying to make any kind of social commentary, after all, even if it did, the script doesn't offer any kind of development for it.
How interesting it will be for the viewer to watch the character's mundane tasks will depend very much on each viewer attention span. After all, the character's hope is to advance in her employment, but that's just a hope that fuels another dull day's work.
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Production Company
Amplitud,
Bambú Audiovisual,
La Panda
Release Date Jun 26, 2019
Duration 1 h 42 m
Rating TV-MA
Genres
Awards
Ariel Awards, Mexico
• 1 Win & 10 Nominations
Palm Springs International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 4 Nominations
Mexican Cinema Journalists
• 4 Nominations