Une femme de ménage (2002) - Synopsis

A box office smash and critical favorite in France, THE HOUSEKEEPER is a return to form for veteran director Claude Berri (Jean De Florette, Lucie Aubrac). In Berri's latest tale, set in Paris and the majestic beaches of Normandy, Jacques (The Taste of Others' Jean Pierre Bacri) is a forlorn bachelor living alone after his wife (director Catherine Breillat) has left him. Deciding to get his life back in order, he hires a housekeeper, Laura (Rosetta's Emilie Dequenne), to plow through the mess that's overtaken his apartment. He soon learns that she's never done a day of housework in her life. However, her presence adds a joyful spark to his life that's been missing too long and reawakens feelings that Jacques thought were beyond revival. Berri keeps his audience guessing at the outcome in this extremely well acted and meticulously observed film, a bittersweet and sexy romantic comedy that shows how hope can come to the hopeless and love to the lonesome.