History Film / LaCeremonie

''La Cérémonie'' is a 1995 film by Creator/ClaudeChabrol, based on Creator/RuthRendell's 1977 novel ''A Judgement in Stone'' (itself inspired by the 1933 crimes of sisters Christine and Léa Papin). It is considered one of Chabrol's best movies nowadays.

The film tells the story of a friendship between two lower-class women played by Creator/IsabelleHuppert and Sandrine Bonnaire. The latter, Sophie, gets hired as a maid for a bourgeois family, the Lelièvres. Then she befriends the former, a postal worker, the angry Jeanne. Sophie, however, has difficulties working by Lelièvres as she can neither read nor count. Her work is mostly manual, but she also goes shopping for groceries. Her dysfunction results in a bitter turn of events for everyone.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Rendell based ''A Judgement in Stone'', the source novel, very loosely on the story of murderers [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_and_Lea_Papin Christine and Lea Papin]]. [[spoiler:Among the differences, the Papins were sisters, which Jeanne and Sophie are not.]]

* FridgeHorror: The one person Jeanne mentions favorably is the judge who granted her custody of her children. At this moment, she has been shown merely an eccentric wth a short fuse, but when the extent of her rage is revealed…

''La Cérémonie'' is a 1995 film by Creator/ClaudeChabrol, based on Creator/RuthRendell's 1977 novel ''A Judgement in Stone'' (itself inspired by the 1933 crimes of sisters Christine and Léa Papin in 1933). It is considered one of Chabrol's best movies nowadays.

''La Cérémonie'' is a 1995 film by Creator/ClaudeChabrol. It is considered one of his best movies nowadays.

* BlackmailBackFire: Melinda Lelièvre discovers that Sophie cannot read. She offers her help to teach the woman reading. Sophie is enraged about the disclosure and, as she is aware that Melinda is pregnant, threatens to tell her father. However Melinda, immediately tells her father about her pregnancy and the blackmail herself.

** The faulty battery [[spoiler:of Jeanne's car]].

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The whole Lelièvre family is killed by Sophie and Jeanne. Jeanne dies in a car accident. The police discover the murder, so Sophie is likely to be arrested soon.]]

* OddCouple: Jeanne Marchal and Sophie Bonhomme. The former is usually angry while the latter is generally serene.

* SoleSurvivor: [[spoiler:The whole Lelièvre family is murdered by Sophie and Jeanne and Jeanne dies in a car accident. Sophie is the only important character who survives.]]

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory. Rendell based ''A Judgement in Stone'', the source novel, very loosely on the story of murderers [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_and_Lea_Papin Christine and Lea Papin]]. [[spoiler:Among the differences, the Papins were sisters, which Jeanne and Sophie are not.]]

The film tells the story of a friendship between two lower-class women played by Creator/IsabelleHuppert and Sandrine Bonnaire. The latter, Sophie, gets hired as a maid for a bourgeois family, the Lelièvres. Then she befriends the former, a postal worker, the angry Jeanne. Sophie, however, has difficulties working by Lelièvres as she can neither read nor count. Her work is, of course mostly manual but she also goes shopping groceries. Her dysfunction results in a bitter turn of event for everyone.

It is a rumination on the relations between the well-off and accommodated and the unpriviledged and disfranchised. Chabrol himself called it "the last Marxist film".

* BenevolentBoss: {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. The Lelièvres try to be this. They want to improve Sophie's living conditions: they send her to the oculist and they pay for it; they offer to pay her driving lessons. In particular, Melinda encourages the other members of her family to show respect for her. However, in spite of their efforts, they are naturally and unconsciously contemptuous toward her. Sophie resents them for this and in the end [[DisproportionateRetribution she takes revenge]].
* BewareTheQuietOnes: Sophie is always calm and she does not speak much. When Melinda understands that she is illiterate, [[spoiler:Sophie threatens to reveal Melinda's pregnancy to her father if she tells others]]. Later, Sophie [[spoiler:shoots Georges Lelièvre down and she takes part in the murder of the rest of the family]].

* BlackmailBackFire: Melinda, the daughter in the Lelièvre family discovers that Sophie cannot read. She offers her help to teach the woman reading. Sophie is enraged about the disclosure and, as she is aware that Melinda is pregnant, threatens to tell all that to her father. However Melinda immediately tells all to her father herself. Both about her pregnancy and a blackmail.
* CaughtOnTape: The whole crime scene is recorded on Melinda's tape recorder. [[spoiler:The police finds the record just after Jeanne's car accident.]]

** Melinda's tape recorder. She receives it as a gift for her birthday. In the end, she uses it to record the opera TV programme and [[spoiler:so it also records the murder scene and it reveals Sophie and Jeanne's guilt to the police]].
* CutPhoneLines: Jeanne cut the phone line of the Lelièvres' house [[spoiler:before their murder]].
* DisproportionateRetribution: The Lelièvres fire Sophie with quite a good reason (she tried to blackmail their daughter Melinda). [[spoiler:Sophie kills them all with the help of Jeanne.]]
* TheDogBitesBack: Even if they are [[BenevolentBoss well-meaning]], the Lelièvres are naturally and unconsciously contemptuous toward Sophie, their maid. Sophie resents them for this and in the end [[DisproportionateRetribution she takes revenge]].
* DramaticIrony: The viewers are showed quite early that Sophie is illiterate, so they understand the mistakes made by the Lelièvres toward her.
* DysfunctionJunction: Sophie cannot read and Jeanne is angry against the whole world.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The whole Lelièvre family is killed by Sophie and Jeanne. Jeanne dies in a car accident. The police discovers the murder, so Sophie is likely to be arrested soon.]]
* TheFarmerAndTheViper: The Lelièvres want to help Sophie. When she tells them that she cannot read because she has no glasses (she's lying: actually she is illiterate), they send her to the oculist and they pay for it. Sophie does not actually go to the oculist and she buys non-corrective glasses. When Melinda Lelièvre discovers by chance that these are non-corrective glasses and she understands that Sophie is illiterate, it triggers a chain of unfortunate events which will lead to [[spoiler:the murder of the whole Lelièvre family by Sophie and Jeanne]].

* GoingPostal: Played quite straight. Jeanne Marchal is working at the post. [[spoiler: In the end she organises the murder of her friend's employers.]]
* GreenEyedMonster: Jeanne envies the Lelièvres' wealth. In particular, she thinks that Catherine participated years ago in a model audition where she participated too. So Jeanne is jealous of Catherine's successful modelling career.
* {{Irony}}: The Lelièvres want to help Sophie. When she tells them that she cannot read because she has no glasses (she's lying: actually she is illiterate), they send her to the oculist. Actually, it makes her more unconfortable and it will ultimately leads to [[spoiler:the Lelièvres' murder]].

* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler:For Jeanne Marchal who after the mass murder is hit to death by a car driven by the priest who dismissed her.]]

** Jeanne Marchal reminds of Marshal (though it is spelt slightly different in French)

* RedOniBlueOni: Jeanne Marchal is the red oni (she is angry against everyone, she is very talkative), Sophie Bonhomme is the blue oni (she is always calm, she does not speak much).

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory. Indeed very loosely on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_and_Lea_Papin this one]]. [[spoiler: To begin with, the Papin murderers were obviously sisters and two women in the film are not. That's only to begin with, of course.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:No les yay in this film]]

* {{Irony}}: The Lelièvres want to help Sophie. When she tells them that she cannot read because she has no glasses (she's lying: actually she cannot read), they send her to the oculist. Actually, it makes her more unconfortable and it will ultimately leads to [[spoiler:the Lelièvres' murder]].

* TheFarmerAndTheViper: The Lelièvres want to help Sophie. When she tells them that she cannot read because she has no glasses (she's lying: actually she cannot read), they send her to the oculist and they pay for it. Sophie does not actually go to the oculist and she buys non-corrective glasses. When Melinda Lelièvre discovers by chance that these are non-corrective glasses and she understands that Sophie is illiterate, it triggers a chain of unfortunate events which will lead to [[spoiler:the murder of the whole Lelièvre family by Sophie and Jeanne]].

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory. Indeed very loosely on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_and_Lea_Papin this one]]. [[spoiler: To begin with, the Papin murderers were obviously sisters and two women in the film are not. That's only to begin with, of course.]]

The film tells the story of a friendship between two lower-class women played by Creator/IsabelleHuppert and Sandrine Bonnaire. The latter, Sophie, gets hired as a maid for a bourgeois family, the Lelièvres. Then she befriends the former, a postal worker, the angry Jeanne. Sophie, however, has difficulties working by Lelièvres as she can neither read nor count. Her work is, of course mostly manual but she also goes shopping groceries. Her dysfuction results in a bitter turn of event for everyone.