La cérémonie (1995, Claude Chabrol) with Girish Shambu - Criterion Spine #1199
Why This Film?
"It's an incredibly rich film."
In this episode of Why This Film?, I'm joined by film critic and scholar Girish Shambu to explore La cérémonie, Claude Chabrol's 1995 masterpiece and Criterion Collection Spine #1199.
La cérémonie follows Sophie, a withdrawn live-in maid hired by the welcoming Lelièvre family at their country estate. The family is pleasant. The job is fine. And then Sophie meets Jeanne, the local postmistress. Jeanne is sharp, reckless, and already on bad terms with Sophie's new employer. The two women become close. And that friendship, combined with a secret Sophie has been hiding since she arrived, sets the film on a course it can't turn back from.
Girish brings his perspective as a critic who has spent years thinking about films that take economic inequality seriously from the works of Ken Loach, the Dardenne brothers, and Aki Kaurismäki. He's currently writing a book about the marginalization of women in the history of auteurism, which gives him a precise eye for how class, gender, and power operate in everyday life.
Together, we move through the film scene by scene and discuss:
- How class war can still operate through politeness and generosity
- The role secrets and shame play in shaping Sophie's identity
- How critical reception of the film has recently changed
- Chabrol as an underappreciated filmmaker of the French New Wave
Whether you're discovering La cérémonie for the first time or returning to it, this conversation explores why a film dismissed for years suddenly became recognized as one of the essential films of its era.
You can find more from Girish Shambu below:
Hollywood ManeStays - Not a pin, not a clip. Just Better.
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