Paulette Goddard, Burgess Meredith, Hurd Hatfield

Based on the novel by Octave Mirbeau, Diary of a Chambermaid is a noble experiment: a "Continental" sex drama with a virtually all-Anglo cast. Paulette Goddard plays the title character, a saucy serva...( read more  read more... )nt named Celestine whose forthrightness has a curious effect on a wealthy Parisian household. Determined to elevate her lot in life, Celestine uses her unsubtle charms to beguile her wishy-washy master, Monsieur Lanlaire (Reginald Owen), and Lanlaire's wastrelly son, Georges (Hurd Hatfield). She also inadvertently inspires the lovesick valet Joseph (Francis Lederer) to steal from the family and kill Georges. Burgess Meredith, Goddard's then-husband, delivers an astonishing performance as Mauger, the Lanlaires' bizarre, shell-shocked neighbor (he also wrote the screenplay and co-produced).

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78% liked it

24 ratings

Unrated, 86 min.

Directed by: Jean Renoir

Release Date: January 1, 1946

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Flixster Reviews (13)


  • March 27, 2008
    Celestine, a French servant girl (Paulette Goddard), decides she's had enough of kowtowing to her masters, struggles with the gold-digging side of her nature, and eventually crashes through the class barrier to find true love, symbolically on Bastille Day. Renoir's American movie...( read more)s are generally not up to the standard of his best work, and "Diary of a Chambermaid" is no exception. Tonally it is rather uneven, and one suspects that a lightening or a darkening of Burgess Meredith's script could equally have improved it. Although they're never remotely convincing, the 'exterior' sets are quite grand, and Renoir makes good use of them with his fluid camerawork. The cast is good: Goddard as Celestine, Meredith as an impish ball of energy and Judith Anderson (Hitchcock's Mrs Danvers from "Rebecca") as an indomitable matriarch. Francis Lederer and Hurd Hatfield, as two of Goddard's suitors, a wicked valet and a consumptive aristocrat, respectively, each deliver their lines rather stiffly, but each, also, has a magnetic screen presence.
  • December 30, 2008
    wow ummn just seen this movie 4 the 1st time n think that this is a really good movie 2 watch its got a really good cast of actors/actressess throughout this movie its an enjoyable movie 2 watch its filmed in black n white but this is a really good drama/classc/comedy movie 2 wat...( read more)ch..sure its was released in 1946 but its a good enjoyable movie 2 watch n its a really enjoyable movie 2 watch
  • July 11, 2008
    nominated for best picture by NBR

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