LA CONDITION
At the beginning of the 20th century, in the Normandy countryside, a married woman and her maid try to escape the grip of bourgeois patriarchy.
Rural Normandy, 1908: Céleste (Galatéa Bellugi from ‘The Taste of Things’) is a young maid working in the bourgeois household of a notary named André de Boisvaillant (Swann Arlaud from ‘Anatomy of a Fall’) and his wife Victoire (Louise Chevillotte). Every night, André sneaks into Céleste's room until the inevitable happens and the girl can no longer hide her bulging belly. When Victoire realizes what has happened, she comes up with a plan to fake a pregnancy and keep Céleste's child. As the tension in the household increases, an unexpected bond is forged between these two women who have nothing in common. This is such an intelligent exploration of women’s resilience and the complex relationships within a rigid class system. The sets are gorgeous, recreating the bourgeois interiors of early 20th Century France and highlighting the vertical class division within households.
(Subtitles)
France 2025 Jérôme Bonnell 103m
Wed 19 Aug 15:45 - Auditorium
