Showing @ Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Fri 11 Nov @ 3:30pm & 8:30pm

Phillipe Le Guay / France / 2010 / 106 mins

Phillipe Le Guay’s sixties set comedy of manners is a beautifully observed tale of cultural and class differences as the settled world of a bourgeois stockbroker is turned upside down when it crosses with the colourful existence of the Spanish maids who live on the top floor of his building.

At the heart of the film is a wonderfully subtle performance by Fabrice Luchini as the ossified stockbroker whose tranformation – prompted by a blocked toilet – is a treat to watch, never overplayed and done with the changes in his character dripped rather than poured over the screen. Whilst Luchini is the heart of the film he’s supported by great performances throughout such as Natalia Verbeke as the maid he falls for and Sandrine Kiberlain’s superb comic turn as his spoiled wife and all the actors help to create a very believable mise-en-scène for this affectionate story to play out against. The ending was the film’s only weakness; it tied things up in perhaps too neat a bow – but it’s a minor cavill to what was a delightful, charming, warmhearted and original piece of cinema.