The Ceremony

Quiet Sophie begins working as a housekeeper for a reserved, seemingly perfect French nuclear family. Everything goes well until she meets the rebellious Jeanne who works at the local post office. A close friendship develops between the two women, and they share their darkest secrets with each other. Encouraged by Jeanne, Sophie feels a growing resentment towards the family she works for. This is an intense and well-acted crime drama of the more subtle, quiet kind, based on a novel by Ruth Rendell. Chabrol once again demonstrates how well he masters classic Hitchcockian techniques.