Cinema: Masterful Maid

Diary of a Chambermaid. Newly arrived from Paris to work in a stolid provincial home, the vixenish maid (Jeanne Moreau) quietly appraises her surroundings. Her employers inhabit a cheerless chateau stuffed with ferns, overprotected objets d'art, and family skeletons. She duly notes that the place is full of opportunities for a clever girl. "Do you mind if I touch your calf?" asks the master, feeling amorous. But Madame is watchful, so the maid bestows her favors instead on Madame's father, a haughty old fetishist who asks only that she hike up her skirts and model his shoe collection. In Diary's jauntiest...

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