La Cérémonie (A Judgement in Stone) (1995)

93% of critics liked it
(28 reviews)
85% of users liked it
(2,833 ratings)

When Catherine Lelievre (Jacqueline Bisset) hires mousy and taciturn Sophie (Sandrine Bonnaire) as a housemaid, she thinks that she found a treasure. Mr. Lelievre (Jean-Pierre Cassel) seems to agree with her, pointing out that the maid just has yet to learn how to serve dinner correctly. Wealthy… More When Catherine Lelievre (Jacqueline Bisset) hires mousy and taciturn Sophie (Sandrine Bonnaire) as a housemaid, she thinks that she found a treasure. Mr. Lelievre (Jean-Pierre Cassel) seems to agree with her, pointing out that the maid just has yet to learn how to serve dinner correctly. Wealthy liberals, they treat her generously enough and expect diligence and reliability in return. However, Sophie didn't tell her new employers that she is dyslexic, and very soon she has terrible troubles with even such supposedly ordinary things as shopping lists. She befriends outspoken postal clerk Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert), who occasionally helps her with the above-mentioned lists and tells her all sorts of gossip about the Lelievre family. Mr. Lelievre, who suspects that Jeanne opens their mail, tells Sophie that Jeanne was charged with the murder of her four-year-old daughter and though she was later acquitted, he can't believe in her innocence. Thus he forbids Sophie to invite Jeanne to the Lelievre house, and the tension between Sophie and her employers increases. What could have been a thriller in the hands of a different director, in the case of Claude Chabrol has become another witty and observant social commentary about the eternal confrontation between the rich and the poor. Ruth Rendell's novel A Judgement in Stone was previously filmed in 1986 in Canada. ~ Yuri German, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 49 min.
Directed By: Claude Chabrol
Written By: Ruth Rendell, Claude Chabrol
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Aug 30, 1995 Wide
On DVD: Jul 27, 2004

Critic Reviews

Desson Thomson, Washington Post
As the movers and shakers of this peculiar saga, Bonnaire and Huppert are unnerving and fascinating to watch together.
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Elegant, brisk and lethal in its assault on the obliviousness of the haute bourgeoise.
John Hartl, Film.com
Chabrol's most accomplished and popular movie in decades.
Robert Horton, Film.com
Chabrol's metier has always been tracing the cracks in the old family china, and this movie presents a brittle set, indeed.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Watching the film, you think maybe you know where it's headed. Or maybe not. Not every ceremony ends in the way we anticipate.
Jeff Millar, Houston Chronicle
An unconventional thriller, its climax being the result of the meeting of two largely inert elements that become explosive only when they are mixed.
Kelly Vance, East Bay Express
Arguably Chabrol and Huppert's finest joint effort, it matches Huppert with Sandrine Bonnaire as a disgruntled postal clerk and sinister housekeeper.
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
Claude Chabrol peaked with this engrossing and shocking thriller.
Matt Bailey, Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Though Chabrol continues to create new films on an almost constant basis, he created a high water mark for his late career with La Cérémonie
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
one of Chabrol's greatest achievements of the 1990s
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
The exorcism of bourgeois complacency is delivered with force.

Read all 11 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Emily B

After only my first Claude Chabrol film I can see why he is sometimes known as the French Alfred Hitchcock. La Cérémonie is based on the Ruth Rendell book "A Judgement in Stone", I'm not going to reveal too much about the plot because this is one of those films which… More
After only my first Claude Chabrol film I can see why he is sometimes known as the French Alfred Hitchcock. La Cérémonie is based on the Ruth Rendell book "A Judgement in Stone", I'm not going to reveal too much about the plot because this is one of those films which really does benefit from knowing as little as possible. Instead just watch two of the great French actresses of recent times as the story builds with tension to the chilling finale.