Produced in 1975, the American Film Theatre's riveting adaptation of gay writer Jean Genet's play "The Maids" now makes its BluRay debut. The film is also available on DVD.
The American Film Theatre was an experiment in blending live theatre with the cinema. From 1973-75, AFT produced 12 film adaptations of classic plays. Season 1 offered eight films, while Season 2 offered five. Tickets were sold via season subscriptions, and each film was shown four times at each of the AFT theatres. Marketing campaigns suggested these were exclusive engagements, and that AFT films might not be made available again. AFT did not continue for a third season, and for decades the films sat on the shelf until Kino Lorber, purveyors of classic films for the home viewing market, resurrected them.
"The Maids" is a darkly comic, disturbing tale about Solange and Clare (Glenda Jackson and Susannah York), who work as servants for a mistress known only as Madame (Vivien Merchant). Madame denigrates her two charges constantly, and the two maids have come to hate her. When Madame isn't at home, Solange and Clare take part in elaborate sado-masochistic ritual games in which they take turns playing Madame and re-enact the power divide between them and her. The point of these rituals is to act out their fantasies of killing Madame, a fantasy they never realize because they spend so much time on the details of their power-play game.
The film "The Maids" is a recreation of a production of the play that was performed at the Greenwich Theater in London with the same cast. The play has been slightly "opened up" for the screen with brief, dialogue-free shots of Madame's much younger lover (Mark Burns), who has been arrested after Solange sends a series of anonymous letters to the police. The content of these letters is never revealed, nor is it made known why the young man, known only as Monsieur, has been arrested. Monsieur, not seen in Genet's original play, is seen being arrested in the film, getting fingerprinted, and being locked in a jail cell. These scenes are played sans dialogue because AFT productions were committed to presenting the plays as written, with no changes from the playwright's dialogue.
"The Maids" is fascinating in its peek into the lives of the two servants. Often when servants are seen on stage or screen, they're presented as thrilled to do the bidding of their employers. "The Maids" gives audiences a look inside the souls of these servants, who resent their lower stations in life. Jackson and York brilliantly play the rage of two who want what Madame has. They despise Madame because she flaunts her wealth and never misses a chance to remind her charges she is their social superior.
Jackson and York play off each other beautifully throughout. Their performances are a unique blend of intense drama and high camp. The film itself stands as a valuable preservation of the stage production these two great actresses appeared in some 45 years ago. Now that it's available on disc, lovers of avant-garde theatre are assured this great play will be preserved for generations.
The film runs 94 minutes. Kino Lorber's disc includes a 30-minute interview with director Christopher Miles; a second interview with Edie Landau, widow of American Film creator Ely Landau; and a promotional film for AFT.