Review of Live-In Maid

Diamonds, Dirty Dishes, and Damn good acting

Jorge Gaggero's "Live-In Maid" tells the story of upper class Beba and her maid Dora who share their time and space in an upscale apartment in Buenos Aires. The older Beba divides her time between lunching with friends, window shopping, and selling- off expensive house hold items in an attempt to revive her dwindling expenses. Nora on the other hand, continues begrudgingly to wait hand-and-foot on Beba, who continues to postpone her payment. When Dora can no longer afford it, she is forced to leave her boss of 30 years and move back to her more rural home and working class husband. But life on their own isn't easy. Beba takes to preparing her own drinks and selling fancy facial creams while Dora struggles to keep her husband focused on repairing their house and adjust to life outside of the city. The women soon find themselves in a new world and are forced to look much deeper into themselves, their relationship and the world around them. What's beautiful about this film is that while it addresses the deep-seeded socio-class divisions existing in Latin America and these women's refusal to cross those lines, it also reveals the deep relationship these women have developed and their inability to stop caring about one another. It carefully and non-stereotypically shows the intermix and complexity of these class relations and the humanity behind them. The performances of both the actresses, Norma Aleandro (Beba), the Merryl Streep of Argentina, and Norma Argentina (Dora), a real maid prior to filming, are extraordinary and bring a strong inner voice and raw emotion to the film. The film opens this week and plays through July 31st at Film Forum in New York City.

Posted on 07/20/07 by: Cristina Garza 11:17 AM