The Housekeeper

Films/DVD Asylum

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I finished watching this French film last night. It further highlights for me the differences between how the European cinema depicts adult, sexual relationships versus their American counterparts, though there may be exceptions to the rule.
The film stars Jean-Pierre Bacri as a recording engineer whose wife has left him. He sees an advertisement for a housekeeper in a coffee shop, so he calls. The housekeeper meets him there. She is young and attractive. Turns out, she has never done any housekeeping. He lets her work at his apartment anyway. A relationship developes. Then matures. The story is rather simple, but the small details and the progression of the relationship are what set this film apart from one that would have been made (and probably has been made) in Hollywood.
In Hollywood, the man seeking a housekeeper who is attractive would have regarded a sexual relationship with his nubile housekeeper as akin to hitting the lottery. After all, older men fantasize about hooking up with younger woman. At least, Hollywood thinks so.
But in The Housekeeper, he is not even home when she does the bulk of her work. He seems to have no interest in a sexual relationship. She ingeniously works her way into living with him. She makes the first move, which he naturally seems receptive to. But theirs is not a relationship he seems to relish. He does not like her music, or her television habits. When his wife pays him a visit, he is clearly still in love with her (she is his age), but the hurt prevents him from accepting her back. In Hollywood fashion, the older man would have either shoved his wife out of the house, or paraded his new conquest in her face. Neither happens here. Rather, she knows he is with someone, and she gracefully leaves. But you know he would rather be with his wife.
They go on a vacation to see his old friend in the country. There, his housekeeper finds his old wedding ring, which tells him that his wife was there. He becomes jealous, accusing his old friend of having an affair with his wife. He obviously still loves her, and is jealous.
While on vacation, you can see the look in his eyes that his relationship with his housekeeper is less than satisfying. She likes to go to the beach and swimming. To him, the sun is too strong, the water too cold. She likes to go dancing. He hates to dance. She likes to ride bikes, he would rather read on the lawn. In Hollywood, they would be having sex too often to anything other than walk to the bathroom.
The events which led to the end of the film are completely logical. While I guessed at the ending, I did not expect the way it ended. Sounds odd, unless you see the film.
This is a mature film that demonstrates that while the middle aged male might pine for a younger woman, the youngar woman comes with baggage that the middle aged man never considers. And once they are home with you, you are stuck with them. In Hollywood, the middle age man is only with the woman at night when they are having sex. Very good film.

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Kimber Kable

Topic - The Housekeeper - jamesgarvin 10:59:32 04/07/05 (0)

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