Review: The Housekeeper (**)

THE HOUSEKEEPER
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Copyright 2003 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****): **


THE HOUSEKEEPER (UNE FEMME DE MÉNAGE) is a respectably acted but rather
pointless story that at least has the decency to be brief. Basically a
LOLITA LITE tale, it concerns the romance of a young housekeeper just past
the age of consent with a newly single man who is three or four decades
older.



The only thing the movie has going for it is the promise -- never
fulfilled -- of sexual titillation. Émilie Dequenne (ROSETTA), who plays
the housekeeper named Laura, is a real bombshell. It's never clear what
Laura sees in Jacques (Jean-Pierre Bacri), the not particularly attractive
occupant of the tiny apartment where she is employed. But, before much
happens -- actually thirty minutes in this slow film -- she has upgraded her
status from employee to lover.



Will she stay with him after they go on a vacation to beach where he reads
Dostoevsky while she plays volleyball with the local hunks her age? What do
you think?



THE HOUSEKEEPER runs 1:31. The film is in French with English subtitles.
It is not rated but would be an R for sexuality and brief nudity and would
be acceptable for most teenagers



The film is playing in nationwide release now in the United States. In the
Silicon Valley, it is showing at the Camera Cinemas.



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