This movie is based around a live-in servant Val and the three people she serves: the father, his daughter and her son. Despite living in the same house as her three masters, Val is very subservient and looked down upon. She does not swim in her master's pool, does not eat at the same table as them, nor does she eat the same food. Val's life is turned upside down when her daughter Jessica comes to stay in order to sit the university entrance exams; a university that is only for the elite. Despite her mother's insistence and pleading, Jessica refuses to conform to the role of servant's daughter with interesting consequences that are not stereotypical.
The second mother is beautifully done. The acting is superb. The story is told elegantly showing not just the injustice of class, but presenting it for the ugly beast it is. What I particularly liked about it was that Jessica's role was not overdone and stereotyped. The character was not deliberately being antagonistic, she was simply being herself and that meant refusing to conform to class social norms. If you get the chance to see this film I urge you to do so.
The second mother is beautifully done. The acting is superb. The story is told elegantly showing not just the injustice of class, but presenting it for the ugly beast it is. What I particularly liked about it was that Jessica's role was not overdone and stereotyped. The character was not deliberately being antagonistic, she was simply being herself and that meant refusing to conform to class social norms. If you get the chance to see this film I urge you to do so.