Gianina counts down to Christmas and a trip home to her daughter while quietly absorbing her employers' polite condescension and rehearsing a local stage version of Octave Mirbeau's 1900 novel. Jude, the satirist behind Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, sharpens class politics into what the festival calls his most heartfelt film. If you like cinema with a bite, catch it.
What to expect
A 94-minute screening in French and Romanian with English subtitles, held in the Francesca Beale Theater one night and the Howard Gilman Theater the next. Expect a full, attentive house of Jude admirers and a lively lobby debate afterward.
Good to know
- The 1 train to 66 St–Lincoln Center lets you out a block from the festival theaters.
- If tickets sell out, a standby line forms at the theater before showtime.
- Subtitled in English.
- Film Movement is the distributor.
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Common questions
What inspired The Diary of a Chambermaid?
Octave Mirbeau's 1900 novel of the same name, which the lead character rehearses in a theater adaptation.
Is it the same as the earlier film versions?
No. Radu Jude's film is a contemporary story that uses the novel as a starting point.
