Lila Avilés’s acclaimed debut feature, The Chambermaid (La camarista), has been selected as Mexico’s candidate in the best international feature film competition at the 92nd edition of the Academy Awards. The film enjoyed a successful U.S. theatrical release last summer by the hand of prestigious distribution company Kino Lorber, and with a 100% Certified Fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes it currently stands as the second best reviewed narrative film of the year.
Winner of the Golden Gate Award for Best Film at the San Francisco Film Festival, the Best Film Award at the Morelia Film Festival, the Jury Prize at the Marrakech Film Festival, and a favorite at numerous film festivals including Toronto, San Sebastian, AFI Fest, and New Directors/New Films, The Chambermaid is now available on VOD (Kino Now, iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, and FandangoNOW) and DVD.
A poignant and delicate class portrait, Avilés’s film follows Eve—played by the wonderful Gabriela Cartol (I Dream in Another Language)—a young chambermaid working in one of the most luxurious hotels in Mexico City, an exclusive glass tower inhabited by wealthy guests whose lives she imagines by their belongings left behind and their absences. Long, laborious shifts prevent Eve from caring for her child as she helps guests with their own children, but she believes she can better her situation after she’s promoted to work in the executive-level suites, for which she accepts a grueling schedule. In keeping with her desire to improve her lot, she simultaneously enrolls in the hotel’s adult education program.
An incipient friendship with her coworker and an awkward, silent flirtation with a window-washer prod her toward much needed bravery. When things don’t turn out as planned, Eve transforms her solitary explorations and newfound courage into strength to face a life outside the high-class prison that’s entrapped her, breaking rules and discovering herself.
Inspired by Avilés’s stage play of the same name—in turn inspired by Sophie Calle’s 1980 artistic project “The Hotel,” in which the French artist worked as a chambermaid in a Venice hotel—The Chambermaid is a standout in a rich field of films being produced by a thriving new generation of Mexican and Latin American female filmmakers. With impeccable cinematography, a near-documentary eye, and a humanistic gaze, the film signals Avilés as a talent to watch.
