I've used one of the photographs from this fashion editoral to illustrate a story here a while back without fully realizing what it was based on or that it was part of a bigger, 10-page shoot. Not only does it have a properly and stylishly outfitted maid as opposed to some "French maid"-inspired monstrosity, that many such editorials have, it is also based on Luis Bunuel's classic
Belle De Jour (1967)
, a fetishistic masterpiece and, at its core, a social downgrade story, featuring a very young Catherine Deneuve.
To add another lady-to-maid connection, Bunuel also made one of the the four film adaptations of another fetishistic masterpiece, this one with far more obvious maid connotatation -
Diary of a Chambermaid (1964) with Jeanne Moreau - now, I'd love to see
that made into a fashion spread! Incidentally, I've become a big fan of Bunuel's work long before my interest in lady-to-maid stories and it only recently it dawned on me that, given his work, he must have been quite a fan of such plots as well.
Nice pictures. A shame she never actually wears a uniform.
ReplyDeleteWell, what if the maid is actually the real lady, that was blackmailed by her pretty blonde maid?
DeleteWell you can write a story about the thing
ReplyDeleteA discussion of Catherine Deneuve and maids brings to mind another movie she appeared in: 8 femmes [8 women]. This film was a combination comedy, murder mystery, and musical. The setting is a snowbound French château in which 8 women are stranded. Deneuve plays Gaby, the wife of the murder victim and more or less the alpha female of the 8 women. There is a chambermaid named Louise played by Emmanuelle Béart. The following link displays a still of the "face-off" between Gaby and Louise:
ReplyDeletehttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/-edfbZ7A12ss/TZLTr3hWp7I/AAAAAAAAA4Q/ucwPgEqXXnA/s1600/8+Women32.JPG
At one point in the movie, Louise accuses Gaby of being weak and indecisive, rips off her maid's headpiece and apron, and declares that she is now the equal of the other 7 women.
I have often thought that this scene could give rise to a interesting mistress2maid story. Consider the following outline:
Louse is a women who has a strong need to submit to a string and decisive. mistress. She is disappointed in Gaby who turns out to be weak and indecisive. Her reaction is anger. She hatches a plan to turn Gaby in a maid to discipline her, to teach her how to be a strong mistress by strict domination. Presumably this would be easy for Louise to do because Gaby has proven to be weak and indecisive. Perhaps Louise would discover that the enjoys the perks of mistresshood and permanently enslaves Gaby.
Yes, good movie, one of Ozon's best. And one of the best maid uniforms on film ever, Mademoiselle Beart is amazing in that role (and, of course, she has a secret of her own, like the rest 7 women).
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