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THE CHAMBERMAID ON THE TITANIC Send This Review to a Friend
For those less than impressed with "Titanic" and not orgasmic over Leonardo DiCaprio, THE CHAMBERMAID ON THE TITANIC is the answer. Here's a film built on a story that does not sink with the ship, but is a buoyant and imaginative related tale with more heart and magic than the insipid romance and the lavish special effects of the Oscar winner. James Cameron may think he's "king of the world" but I'd gladly hand a royal scepter to Bigas Luna, director and co-writer with Cuca Canals and Jan-Louis Benoit of the utterly charming screenplay adapted from a novel by Didier Decoin.
Consider this set-up. Horty (Oliver Martinez), a foundry worker in the north of France wins a company race in which the workers run with sacks of coal on their shoulders. The prize is a trip to Southampton, England, to watch the historic launching of the Titanic on its maiden voyage. He really should have been awarded a trip for two, but his boss pretends it's solo so he can attempt to seduce Horty's wife Zoe (Romane Bohringer) while her husband is away.
Ensconced in his luxurious Southampton hotel room, Horty answers a knock on the door. He finds Marie (Aitana Sanchez Gijon), a beautiful young woman who tells him she is a chambermaid on the Titantic and feeds him a hard luck story about not having a room for the night because the hotels are booked. Would he vacate his to help her out? No, but he offers to let her have the bed while he sleeps in a chair. So much for good intentions. What actually happens or doesn't happen in that room becomes a subject for conjecture.
Horty is hopelessly smitten with the memory of Marie and on returning to work tells the guys at the local cafe of his escapade, increasingly embellishing the details. His confreres, who are more and more titillated, coax him to repeat his story to an ever- widening circle. The news that the ship has sunk and the chambermaid is presumably dead stimulates even more interest in the erotic night and lost love. Zoe is not amused. Horty is getting better and better at repeating the yarn, and the men of the town and their wives are having more sex as a result.
This is only the beginning. Horty becomes such a master story-teller that he is soon earning a living with a traveling caravan by mesmerizing audiences captivated by his tale and the chambermaid's doom. Zoe even becomes part of the act.
The French-Italian-Spanish co-production, in French with English subtitles, maintains a mounting aura of mystery as the plot escalates. The cast members are excellent from the leads to the supporting roles. More than merely a tall tale, "The Chambermaid on the Titanic" evokes thoughts and feelings about romantic fixations, fantasies of what might have been, marital complications, infidelity, real or imagined, and the effort to escape the humdrum and find hope and beauty amidst cynicism and opportunism.
Better and more intelligent than "Titanic," this film is for those who seek a special movie that challenges the imagination and weaves an irresistible spell in the best storytelling tradition. A Samuel Goldwyn Company release.
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