The Sunday Times (London)

March 10, 1996, Sunday

BYLINE: Stephen Amidon

LA CEREMONIE 112 mins, 15
Domestics have always been ripe subjects for horror stories, though rarely have there been any quite like the maid-from-hell in this deliriously nasty film from Claude Chabrol. When a wealthy Frenchwoman (Jacqueline Bisset, convincingly Gallic) decides to hire a new housekeeper, the strangely robotic Sophie (Sandrine Bonnaire) seems the perfect applicant, fitting into the refined household as naturally as an antique vase. Before long, however, the cracks begin to appear Sophie’s shame over her illiteracy drives a wedge between her and her cultured employers, while questions about just what killed her father linger. Matters come to a head when she befriends Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert), a local psycho with some closeted skeletons of her own.

When Sophie is fired, the two enact a bloody revenge. Chabrol’s film is a small gem of controlled suspense, starting out as slow as molasses in January, but revving up to a crescendo worthy of Peckinpah. Bonnaire and Huppert are superb, infusing their utterly amoral relationship with a vein of pathos. Above all, the film should stand as a warning to would-be domestic employers everywhere if you fire your maid, make sure she leaves the house forthwith