| The Women on the 6th Floor | |
|---|---|
Cinematic poster |
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| Directed by | Philippe le Guay |
| Written by | Philippe le Guay Jérôme Tonnerre |
| Starring | Fabrice Luchini Sandrine Kiberlain Natalia Verbeke |
| Music by | Jorge Arriagada |
| Cinematography | Jean-Claude Larrieu |
| Editing by | Monica Coleman |
| Release date(s) | October 23, 2010 (Première) February 16, 2011 (France) October 7, 2011 (USA) |
| Running time | 106 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French Spanish |
| Budget | € 7 million |
| Box office | $22,984,612[1] |
The Women on the 6th Floor (French: Les Femmes du 6ème étage; also known as Service Entrance) is a 2010 French film directed by Philippe le Guay.[2][3] It was written by Le Guay and Jérôme Tonnerre.
The film premièred at the Montpellier International Festival of Mediterranean Film on 23 October 2010. Its cinematic run in France began on 16 February 2011. First shown in the USA in March 2011 at Rendezvous with French Cinema, it began its release on 7 October 2011.
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Set in Paris in the 1960s, the film is a social comedy that pits the propriety of a middle class French family with the earthiness and humour of Spanish cleaning ladies who work in their apartment building.[4] It follows Monsieur Joubert (Fabrice Luchini), an unadventurous stockbroker, as he befriends the Spanish maids who live on the top floor of his building. Maria (Natalia Verbeke), his new maid, introduces him to her compatriots and their simple but happy lives animated by friendship and folklore, in contrast to the relative emotional austerity of his own life. Slowly he recovers his joie de vivre by tasting life's simple pleasures; when his wife (Sandrine Kiberlain) falsely accuses him of having an affair he moves into an empty room in the servants' quarters upstairs, the first time he has had a bedroom of his own.
Two of the Spanish actresses, Berta Ojea and Concha Galán, did not speak French before the film and learned their roles phonetically.[5]
The film was screened out of competition at the Berlinale in 2011.[6] It was well received by critics and audiences. Le Monde wrote "The entertainment is as good as the actors are pitch-perfect. Fabrice Luchini and Sandrine Kiberlain are among our best stars."[3] Dissenting, La Croix described the "lazy screenplay, poor dialogue, catalogue of clichés, indigent mise-en-scène".[7] The New York Press reviewed the film at the Rendez-vous with French Film festival in New York, calling it "charming".[8]