These are Mme Bisset's words to their servant Bonnaire who is paid a pittance to fetch and carry for this refined family on her day off when she is supposed to be visiting postwoman Huppert. Sophie just leaves anyway when Bisset's back is turned. Without descending into pastiche, Chabrol manages to portray the class struggle between the wealthy Lelievre family and the humble aupair and employee of La Poste in a highly realistic way. The Lelievres do not even know when they are putting on Sophie and Huppert just hates them because they are rich and she is poor, "Si j'avais une dixieme de ce qu'ils ont..." Such is modern France even today where the wealthy are despised and the poor wallow in envy and self-pity. Yes, it's obvious that matters will come to a head and the sting in the ending is superb and quire faithful the Ruth Rendell novel. What is especially interesting about this film is that you end up genuinely wavering between sympathy and dislike for both sides of the "class struggle". The Brittany landscape is portrayed quite bleakly to great effect setting the tone for this grim and superbly executed tale.
Review of La Cérémonie
