The Maids
Two maids, in a sinister bond of roleplaying, take turns acting out an abusive employer-servant relationship. Adapted from Jean Genet's absurdist play, itself inspired from a... Read more
The Maids
Directed by Christopher Miles
The Maids
Susannah York
Glenda Jackson
Directed by Christopher Miles
ean Genet, one of the most celebrated creative minds of the 20th century, receives an unbridled, expertly cinematic rendering in this long unseen film based on his perverse play. The Maids' volatile mixture of class confrontation, Freudian passion and criminal mischief frames an acid-etched portrait of two sisters whose hatred and desire twist their tortured lives together into a relentless downward spiral of guilt, degradation, and freedom at any cost.
Glenda Jackson (A Touch of Class) and Susannah York (A Man For All Seasons) play Solange and Claire, Paris maids who tend to cruel socialite Madame's (Vivien Merchant) unending domestic needs. Whenever Madame is away, the sisters obsessively act out a complex role-playing psychodrama of domination and control that feeds their powerful lust for revenge upon the haughty, disdainful mistress they serve. But after falsely denouncing Madame's lover to the police, Solange and Claire's shared terror of arrest and the unchecked aggression with which they increasingly infuse their "ceremony" threaten to destroy them even as they perch on the threshold of ecstatic release.
Director Christopher Miles (A Time For Loving) and legendary cinematographer Douglas Slocombe (Julia, Raiders of the Lost Ark) focus Genet's heady theatricallity into a riveting and dynamic cinematic experience. In a world where the lines are drawn between mistress, servant, confession, accusation, degradation, redemption, murder, and suicide become as fragile as French lace, the fatal truth remains that, "naturally, maids are guilty when madams are innocent."
Click here to learn more at Kino Lorber Edu. Interested in bringing The Maids to your school or library? If you'd like to have an in-class viewing, on-campus screening, or purchase the DVD for your library's collection, please visit our site or contact Estelle Grosso at EDU@kinolorber.com or call (212) 629-6880 with your request.
To read more about Kino Lorber Edu's terms of use and ordering information, visit Kino Lorber Edu.
RT' @BeaudineTwin2': Okay. Here they are. Every' @KinoLorber' Blu-ray disc I bought in March. Most of these as part of their March Madness sale…
RT' @JimLNeibaur': One of the best silent film releases this year is ' @KinoLorber's' The Delicious Little Devil w/ Mae Murray & Rudolph Valen…
RT' @mosaicmag': A new collection of Yiddish films from' @KinoLorber' shows how the popular classics of the 1930s can be a special lens for und…
RT' @Slant_Magazine': Sergio Leone truly came into his own with the capper to his Man with No Name trilogy, and THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGL…
🎧 Director Jeffrey Wolf and executive producer Sam Pollard discuss' @billtraylorfilm' on' @AllOfItWNYC'.' https://t.co/aUFkZYXWZ6'
RT' @LaurasMiscMovie': Tonight's Movie: THE PRINCESS COMES ACROSS (1936) - A' @KinoLorber' Blu-ray Review' https://t.co/3nkl0aD4Qe' A lot of fun!…
RT' @JonathanLSilver': In' @mosaicmag',' @MaratGrinberg' reviews' @KinoLorber’s' collection of classic Yiddish films. The collection situates viewe…
RT' @DVDBeaver': Douglas Sirk's "Battle Hymn" Blu-ray - Rock Hudson' @KinoLorber' US:' https://t.co/4yAcDmehtO' CAN:' https://t.co/Nbqt8tkhGE' BONU…
RT' @SIFFnews': The Golden Space Needle Award for Best Film goes to THERE IS NO EVIL directed by Mohammad Rasoulof (Germany/Czech Republic/ I…
RT' @letterboxd': "I'm a big fan; I like all sorts of genres. I do like an occasion to just switch my brain off and enjoy some mindless carna…
General Inquiries
333 W. 39th St., Ste. 503
New York, NY 10018
Tel. (800) 562-3330
Fax. (212) 714-0871
Press & Media
For publicity assistance and press inquiries please contact us by emailing dninh@kinolorber.com or calling 212-629-6880.
Educational
Please visit our educational site at www.KinoLorberEDU.com
For assistance with educational orders, please contact us at:
Phone:212-629-6880
Fax: 212-714-0871
Email: edu@kinolorber.com