James R | On 28, Jul 2019

Director: Lila Avilés
Cast: Gabriela Cartol, Teresa Sánchez
Certificate: 15

How does the other half live? It’s a question that has long been wondered by one side of society – but, crucially, only one particular side. The wealthy, of course, never considers what it’s like at the other end of the social ladder; the mirror only goes in one direction. And so it is that Eve (Gabriela Cartol), a chambermaid, is able to flit in and out of their lives without being seen – a ghost, in the least supernatural sense possible.

There is something otherworldly to buildings by night, devoid of the people so used to dominating their landscapes by day. It’s a whole city unseen by many of a certain class, their privilege hiding the world that keeps theirs going, while making their own existence an unreachable alien planet altogether.

Director Lila Avilés captures that simultaneous proximity and distance with quietly detailed intimacy, taking us through the routines of Eve’s job with the kind of silent thoroughness that makes Eve such a conscientious maid. The unforgiving nature of her work is just as painfully observed: Eve’s shifts mean she can’t care care for her children, but that doesn’t stop one particular guest recruiting Eve to look after their own.

Underlying this monotonous existence is a gradual nudge by Eve’s colleagues for her to come out of her shell; Gabriela Cartol delivers a brilliantly understated turn, burying everything beneath a calm, deadpan face.

There’s no mistaking that sparsity for a lack of nuance, though; while it’s not as formally flashy or as high in profile as Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma, The Chambermaid has as much to say about class and society, taking us under the bedsheets into a life bookended by revolving doors that only ever rotate one way.

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