La femme de chambre du Titanic (1997)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Bigas Luna

Writers:

Cuca Canals (scenario) and
Jean-Louis Benoît (scenario) ...

Release Date:

14 August 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Romance

Tagline:

There was more than one love story on the Titanic.

Plot:

Horty, a French foundry worker, wins a contest and is sent to see the sailing of the Titanic. In England...

Plot Keywords:

Titanic | Foundry | Jealousy | Travelling Players | Imagination

Awards:

7 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Olivier Martinez	...	Horty
Romane Bohringer	...	Zoe
Aitana Sánchez-Gijón	...	Marie
Didier Bezace	...	Simeon
Aldo Maccione	...	Zeppe, Actor
Jean-Marie Juan	...	Pascal
Arno Chevrier	...	Al
Marianne Groves	...	Mathilde
Didier Bénureau	...	Simeon's Secretary
Alberto Cassadie	...	Giovanni
Giorgio Gobbi	...	Manu
Yves Verhoeven	...	Gaspard
Vincenzo De Caro	...	Lacroix
Salvador Madrid	...	Leon
Barbara Lerici	...	Blanche

Also Known As:

The Chambermaid on the Titanic (Canada: English title) (USA)
Das Zimmermädchen der Titanic (Germany)
L'immagine del desiderio (Italy)
La camarera del Titanic (Spain)
The Chambermaid (USA) (promotional title)

Runtime:

Argentina:100 min | France:101 min | Poland:88 min

Country:

France | Italy | Germany | Spain

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | France:U | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Trieste, Friuli - Venezia Giulia, Italy

Company:

UGC YM

Goofs:

Factual errors: When the Titanic is seen leaving the dock, smoke is coming from four funnels. On the real ship, the fourth smokestack was a dummy.

Soundtrack:

Kol Nidrei Op. 47

The genius who irritates me

Another viewing of this film recently simply left me where I was before: there is something about Bigas Luna which escapes me, or just simply irritates me. Whereas any viewing of Aitana Sánchez-Gijón evidently has its pluses, inasfar as anything else related to the story being told, I think I would rather make do with the pages of Didier Decoin.

Having already waded through the insufferable `Las Edades de Lulú' (qv), `La Teta y La Luna' (definitely no qv), the trivial and frivolous `Bámbola' (qv), and the overstated and over-coloured `Volavérunt' (qv), I think I can only be glad that, thus far, I have missed out on `Jamón, Jamón' or `Los Huevos de Oro', among others, without being unfortunate enough to have missed out on anything. But the irritating thing is that Bigas Luna is a genius. Maybe not in the sense of getting the best acting interpretations – he doesn't – but certainly in all other techniques involved in making a film, especially in scene-setting for yesteryear and even longer ago. This is evidently apparent in `La Femme de Chambre du Titanic' and `Volavérunt', in which the Italian Franca Squarciapino is clearly one of the best specialists in the matter: the period costumes are superb in both films. I see on IMDb that she had plenty of schooling back in the 1980s with operatic productions.

So I patiently sit here awaiting the next Bigas Luna – more or less anticipating what it will be, because I am definitely in no rush for it, and will not even be sorry if it goes by without my catching on. But if it does turn up, you can be sure I shall be watching: there is something fascinating about a man whose films do not exactly end up being very appetising fare but which show such remarkable cinematographic talent.