La Cérémonie

La Cérémonie (English: lit. The Ceremony also known as A Judgment in Stone) is a 1995 French psychological thriller film by written and directed by Claude Chabrol. Starring Isabelle Huppert and Sandrine Bonnaire and adapted from the 1977 novel A Judgement in Stone by British writer Ruth Rendell. The story follows Sophie (Bonnaire), a maid hired to work for the rich Lelièvre family in the French countryside. She befriends Jeanne (Huppert), the local postmistress, but their friendship soon starts taking an increasingly dark turn. The film echoes the true case of Christine and Léa Papin, two French maids who brutally murdered their employer's wife and daughter in 1933, as well as the 1947 play they inspired, The Maids by Jean Genet. The film received widespread critical acclaim with praise for its layered screenplay and Chabrol's directing, as well as Bonnaire and Huppert's performances, chemistry and dynamic. Chabrol presents an ambiguous view of culture and class conflict in this film, which he amusingly called "the last Marxist film."