# Femme de chambre du Titanic, La (1997)

### reviewed by
Steve Rhodes

    THE CHAMBERMAID ON THE TITANIC
    A film review by Steve Rhodes
    Copyright 1998 Steve Rhodes

    RATING (0 TO ****):  ***

As in a wonderful dream, Horty, a dirt-poor foundry worker, finds himself in a luxury hotel room in a foreign city. Answering a knock on the bedroom door, he finds himself face to face with a beautiful woman. Since there is no room in town, what with the maiden voyage tomorrow of the Titanic on which she will be a chambermaid, he ends up sharing his room with her.

And it gets better. Pulling back the sheets to reveal her skimpy gown and her lithe body, she invites him to get out of the chair where he is trying to sleep and spend the night with her in his bed. It is what happens or doesn't happen next that forms the basis of the plot.

Director J.J. Bigas Luna's THE CHAMBERMAID ON THE TITANIC (LA FEMME DE CHAMBRE DU TITANIC), based on the novel by Didier Decoin, isn't some cheap exploitation picture trying to ride on the coattails of TITANIC's success. Instead, it is a delightful and whimsical tale, full of the magic of the storytelling. Beautifully and delicately constructed, the film captivates and surprises the audience. The superlative acting adds to the enjoyment, and unlike many French films, the three leads will probably be familiar to American viewers.

It all starts when the strikingly handsome Horty, played with quiet intensity and precision by Olivier Martinez from THE HORSEMAN ON THE ROOF, wins a contest. Every year his foundry in France runs a brutal decathlon-style event, and this year there is to be a special prize.

The prize turns out to be two tickets to London to witness the launching of the Titanic. The foundry company's president lies, saying there is only a single ticket because he wants time with Horty's wife Zoe, while Horty is out of the country. Romane Bohringer from Colonel Chabert plays the innocent-looking Zoe.

It is in London that Horty is smitten by the lovely chambermaid named Marie. Played with devilish good looks by Aitana Sanchez-Gijon from A WALK IN THE CLOUDS, Maria soon has captured Horty's heart. When she sails away and dies on the Titanic, he has only her picture to remember her by. He dotes on her photograph as if it is the Star of India.

And that is only the setup for the plot. The body of the movie occurs after his return when Horty and Zoe confront each other with their alleged infidelities.

Soon he is spending his time at the bar telling the story about Marie. He comes to realize that his gift in life is not manual labor but telling mesmerizing stories. The question is what is true, and what isn't?

The audience's reaction may be similar to those of his friends in the bar. They are not entirely sure if they care about his veracity since these ribald, adult fairy tales keep getting better and better. The men and women of the town hang breathlessly on his every word. Every night becomes Super Bowl Sunday, in which no one would miss going to the bar to listen to him.

The touching movie takes many unpredictable twists before coming to a surprising and completely satisfying conclusion. Like Horty's stories, the movie is smart enough to serve up delicious little morsels of ambiguity for us to savor and ponder long after the house lights have gone up.

THE CHAMBERMAID ON THE TITANIC runs a fast 1:41. It is in French with English subtitles. The film is not rated but would be an R for profanity and sex and would be fine for older teenagers.

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