July 26 2019

The Chambermaid

A film by Lila Avilés

2019Also on disc & on demand

Synopsis

Eve is a conscientious hotel chambermaid. Punctual and enterprising, paying close attention to the details, she hopes her impeccable professionalism will bring her promotion to the Hotel Presidente’s exclusive penthouse floor. Long, laborious shifts prevent Eve from caring for her child while she helps guests with their own children. Avilés records her day-to-day activities, from the detail of ensuring rooms are immaculately presented each morning to enrolling in the hotel’s adult education programme, which will help her chances of promotion. When things don’t result as planned, Eve transforms her lonely explorations and newfound courage into the necessary strength to face a life outside the glimmering tower.

Avilés’ impressive debut profits from a spare script and nuanced direction, while Gabriela Cartol’s breakout performance brings charisma and warmth to Eve. With its dry humour and sly observations about class, privilege and exploitation, The Chambermaid is a confident, compelling and deeply resonant piece of filmmaking.

World Premiere Toronto International Film Festival 2018 – Discovery

European Premiere San Sebastian International Film festival 2018 - New Directors Competition

Mexico's International Film Oscar entry
Winner Marrakech International Film Festival - Prix du Jury
Winner Palm Springs International Film Festival - Cine Latino Award
Winner Portland International Film festival - Audience Award

Length 102 min
Original language Spanish

Where It's On

Week Commencing 26th July Also available on Curzon Home Cinema & BFI Player

Curzon Bloomsbury	Brunswick Centre	London WC1N 1AW	0333 321 0104	all week
ICA Cinema	The Mall	London SW1Y 5AH	020 7930 3647	all week
Barbican Cinema	Beech St	London EC2Y 4DS	020 7638 8891	all week
HMV Curzon Wimbledon	23 The Broadway	London SW19 1RE	0333 321 0104	all week
HOME	2 Tony Wilson Place	Manchester M15 4FN	0161 200 1500	all week
GFT	12 Rose St	Glasgow G3 6RB	0141 332 6535	all week
Arthouse Crouch End	159a Tottenham Lane	London N8 9BT	020 8245 3099	all week
IFI	6 Eustace St	Dublin 2	01 679 3477	all week

Week Commencing 2nd Aug Also available on Curzon Home Cinema & BFI Player

Curzon Bloomsbury	Brunswick Centre	London WC1N 1AW	0333 321 0104	all week
Barbican Cinema	Beech St	London EC2Y 4DS	020 7638 8891	all week
ICA Cinema	The Mall	London SW1Y 5AH	020 7930 3647	all week
HMV Curzon Wimbledon	23 The Broadway	London SW19 1RE	0333 321 0104	all week
Tyneside	10 Pilgrim St	Newcastle NE1 6QG	0191 228 5500	all week
HOME	2 Tony Wilson Place	Manchester M15 4FN	0161 200 1500	all week
Arthouse Crouch End	159a Tottenham Lane	London N8 9BT	020 8245 3099	all week
IFI	6 Eustace St	Dublin 2	01 679 3477	all week
Chapter	Market Rd	Cardiff CF5 1QE	029 2030 4400	all week
Castle Cinema, Hackney	64-66 Brooksby's Walk	London E9 6DA		all week

Week Commencing 9th Aug Also available on Curzon Home Cinema & BFI Player

Curzon Bloomsbury	Brunswick Centre	London WC1N 1AW	0333 321 0104	all week
Barbican Cinema	Beech St	London EC2Y 4DS	020 7638 8891	9-13 Aug
HMV Curzon Wimbledon	23 The Broadway	London SW19 1RE	0333 321 0104	all week
ICA Cinema	The Mall	London SW1Y 5AH	020 7930 3647	all week
Showroom	15 Paternoster Row	Sheffield S1 2BX	0114 275 7727	all week
DCA	152 Nethergate	Dundee DD1 4DY	01382 432444	9-13 Aug
HOME	2 Tony Wilson Place	Manchester M15 4FN	0161 200 1500	all week
Arthouse Crouch End	159a Tottenham Lane	London N8 9BT	020 8245 3099	9,11,12 Aug
Tyneside	10 Pilgrim St	Newcastle NE1 6QG	0191 228 5500	shows tbc
IFI	6 Eustace St	Dublin 2	01 679 3477	all week

Week Commencing 16th Aug Also available on Curzon Home Cinema & BFI Player

Curzon Bloomsbury	Brunswick Centre	London WC1N 1AW	0333 321 0104	all week
ICA Cinema	The Mall	London SW1Y 5AH	020 7930 3647	all week
Barbican Cinema	Beech St	London EC2Y 4DS	020 7638 8891	17,19,20 Aug
Showroom	15 Paternoster Row	Sheffield S1 2BX	0114 275 7727	all week
Mareel Shetland	North Ness	Lerwick ZE1 0WQ	01595 745500	18, 21 Aug
Chichester Cinema	New Park	Chichester, PO19 7XY	01243 786650	20 Aug
Capitol	North St	Horsham RH12 1RG	01403 750220	18.20.22 Aug
Tyneside	10 Pilgrim St	Newcastle NE1 6QG	0191 228 5500	16 & 19 Aug
Palace	Harbour St	Broadstairs CT10 1ET	01843 865726	17,20,22 Aug

Week Commencing 23rd Aug Also available on Curzon Home Cinema & BFI Player

Curzon Bloomsbury	Brunswick Centre	London WC1N 1AW	0333 321 0104	all week
ICA Cinema	The Mall	London SW1Y 5AH	020 7930 3647
Watershed	1 Canons Road,	Bristol, BS1 5TX	0117 929 5100	all week
Filmhouse	88 Lothian Rd	Edinburgh EH3 9BZ	0131 228 2688	23-26 Aug
Showroom	15 Paternoster Row	Sheffield S1 2BX	0114 275 7727	all week
Genesis	93-95 Mile End Rd	London E1 4UJ	020 7780 2000	27th Aug
Brewery Arts	122a Highgate	Kendal LA9 4HE	01539 725133	27th Aug

Week Commencing 30th Aug Also available on Curzon Home Cinema & BFI Player

Curzon Bloomsbury	Brunswick Centre	London WC1N 1AW	0333 321 0104	all week
Prince Charles	7 Leicester Place	London WC2H 7BY	020 7474 3654	30/8 ,2-4/9
Filmhouse	Derngate	Northampton NN1 1TU	01604 624811	30/8, 2/9
Firstsite	Lewis Gdns, High St	Colchester CO1 1JH	01206 713700	3rd Sept

Week Commencing 6th Sept

Broadway	14-18 Broad St	Nottingham NG1 3AL	0115 952 6611	6-8 Sept
Gulbenkian	University of Kent	Canterbury CT2 7NB	01227 769075	8th Sept
Curzon Clevedon	46 Old Church Rd	Clevedon BS21 6NN	01275 871000	8th Sept

Week Commencing 13th Sept

Trailer

Director — Lila Avilés

Lila Avilés studied Direction and Performing Arts with some of the leading theatrical figures in México such as Martin Acosta, Sandra Felix and Juliana Faesler. She also studied film writing with Beatriz Novaro and Paula Marcovich. After her beginnings as a theater actress she moved into directing. Her work as a director includes Gardenia Club, Microdermoabrasión (National Theater Award), Antígona and The Chambermaid – that would become the inspiration for her first feature film. She has also directed the operas Cossi Fan Tutte and Alcina by Mozart and Händel respectively. Lila’s latest play as a producer and actress, Nothing and Everything by Janne Teller, opened in January 2018 at the UNAM theater in Mexico City.

Filmography

2018 THE CHAMBERMAID (La Camarista)

2017 NENA (documentary)

2016 DEJAVU (short)

Cast & Credits

CAST
Eve	Gabriela Cartol
Minitoy	Teresa Sánchez
CREW
Director	Lila Avilés
Producers	Limerencia (Lila Avilés & Tatiana Graullera)
	FROPOCINE México
	Bad Boy Billy Production (Axel Shalson)
	L A Panda Productions (Jana Diaz-Juhl & Pau Brunet)
	Bambú Audiovisual
Scriptwriters	Lila Avilés and Juan Carlos Marquéz
Cinematography	Carlos Rossini
Editor	Omar Guzmán
Sound Design	Guido Berenblum
Production design	Vika Fleita
Mexico 2018
98 mins - HD - 1:2.35 - 5.1
Spanish with English subtitles

Images

Click any still to enlarge

The Critics

★★★★★

'This is brilliantly confident film-making...a masterpiece of restraint.'

Simran Hans, The Observer

★★★★★

'It's a fabulous piece of cinema...Lila Avilés, director and co-writer (with Juan Marquéz), creates a symphony of textured silences.'

Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times

★★★★★

'This quiet profile of Mexico's working class is close to perfect.'

Tim Robey, The Daily Telegraph

★★★★★

The Chambermaid is every bit as “cinematic” as any Fast & Furious flick. No trace of the literary or theatrical remains in Avilés’s long takes and snatched, blank dialogue. The picture wraps a whole world around us. A perfect, cinematic sketch of a working life’

Donald Clarke, The Irish Times

★★★★
Film of the Week -' Lila Avilés is the Mexican actor-turned-director who makes a terrifically assured feature debut with The Chambermaid: an eerily atmospheric, poignant, disquieting movie about 21st-century luxury and the invisible servant class required to maintain it. It is a film to put alongside Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, in that it’s about the emotional cost of submission.'

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

★★★★ 'She doesn’t rescue anyone and she isn’t rescued. How refreshing....wry, delicately austere debut.'

Charlotte O'Sullivan, The Standard

Film of the Week - ‘Debut director Lila Avilés and lead actress Gabriela Cartol have crafted a subtle and compelling story about a young hotel worker, with wry humour and a keen understanding of exploitative labour economics. Lucrecia Martel’s regular sound designer Guido Berenblum creates a sonic poetry to accompany the visuals. Cartol is hugely impressive as the enterprising and unassuming Eve, with her keen smile and calm demeanour.’

Maria Delgado, Sight & Sound

'Maid in Mexico - ‘Bored of brain-dead summer blockbusters yet? Of course you are. So why not skip the multiplex, hit the art house and watch The Chambermaid, the critically adored latest from frighteningly talented young Mexican director Lila Avilés?

ES Magazine

'The confident and hypnotic debut from the 37-year-old Mexican director Lila Avilés'

Ryan Gilbey, The New Statesman

★★★★

‘A poignant portrait of a have not, sensitively played by Cartol as a woman slowly sinking into non-existence.’ Ian Freer,

EMPIRE magazine

★★★★

‘Offering more questions than answers…but strong world-building and beautifully drawn characters’

Owen Richards,The i

‘A cool, calm and collected film about a subject often spoken about loudly and angrily.’ A young hotel maid is the captivating subject of Mexican filmmaker Lila Avilés’ bone-dry social satire.’

LITTLE WHITE LIES

★★★★

'Due to the mesmerising ways of Eve –its gentle and meticulous approach in shooting the daily drudge makes it a weirdly relaxing and fulfilling cinema experience'

Dan Carrier, Camen New Journal

Mark KERMODE BBC SOUNDS

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0006v91

The Chambermaid is a great analogy for modern Mexican and Latin American society – showcasing the severe disparity between the leisurely lifestyles of the affluent guests and the poor staff working ungodly hours to support and provide basic necessities for their families.

Rocio Cadena, SOUNDS & COLOURS

Read Interview with Lila Aviles

Aurelie Knecht, SOUNDS & COLOURS

'Lila Avilés’s modest and miraculous first feature finds pathos and a hint of magic in the routines of a young hotel worker.'

...Quietly stunning...it is a work of closely observed workplace realism, but at times it achieves the strangeness and intensity of science fiction.' Even when nothing much is happening, there is the lurking sense that anything might.'

“Our sense of exploitation and alienation is palpable, but the moments of beauty, tenderness and freedom that punctuate the drudgery provide flickers of humanity that feel almost miraculous.”

A.O. Scott, The New York Times (Critics Pick)

"The Chambermaid brims with empathy and life."

Robert Abele, The Los Angeles Times

“A beautifully observed film of rich detail...The Chambermaid salutes the invisible women caretakers who are the hardworking backbone of society.”

“Minimalist yet sumptuous”

Kate Erbland, IndieWire

‘Gives Powerful Voice to Invisible Laborers.’

‘Actress Gabriela Cartol and first-time director Lila Avilés bring a hotel maid’s dreams and ambitions to vivid life.’

'Marvellously honest… sympathetically achieved.’ The Wrap

'Avilés refuses to present us with an upward trajectory, to allow Eve to break from the hermetic, albeit multiple, worlds of the hotel. In doing so, The Chambermaid exposes not only the often-occluded labour of the hotel chambermaid, but also the restricted field of agency and the precarious alignments these conditions of labour can produce.'

Hannah Paveck, Another Gaze

'Slow, steady, and with an exacting eye for detail, Lila Aviles' The Chambermaid is a painfully astute observational drama...'

Monica Castello, Rogerebert.com

“A fascinating observational drama and occasional allegory for the haves and have-nots.”

“Nuanced and natural, it has a quiet and modest power…A character study free of pretense.”

John Fink, The Film Stage

'Eve is one of the most fully and forcefully crafted characters I have seen on screen in some time. Yet to herself, her fellow workers, hotel guests and society at large, she is a maid and nothing more. But she is trying, and the modulated and respectful way Avilés—an actor and dramatist making her feature film directorial debut—captures those efforts is extremely moving.'

It is difficult to resist comparing The Chambermaid to Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma. But while that film was epic in its scope and presented its lead character in a heroic manner, Avilés’ film is small in scale and wishes not to aggrandize Eve but simply give her an opportunity to exist on her own terms. There is also nothing showy about her approach. Her camera almost never moves; instead, she and cinematographer Carlos F. Rossini illustrate Eve’s isolation through dramatic use of rack focus.'

Oliver Jones, Observer

“Coolly unsentimental to the point of being glacial, but possessed of a deadpan wit and downplayed humanistic warmth of its own.”
Jonathan Romney, Screen International

Links

Download Pressbook

Trailer on YouTube - link or embed

Trailer on Vimeo - link or download mp4 file

Download trailer Pro-res

Download Photos

Download poster image textless

Download quad poster high-res jpg

Download shorter trailer mp4 file

International Pressbook

Interview with Lila Avilés in Variety

Bookings & Press

For film bookings please contact Colin Burch at Verve Pictures — [email protected]. Press resources are on the Press page.