User reviews

Lynn has 'issues' she is being treated for her condition and has a job as a maid at a nice hotel. She is a very hard worker and is obsessive compulsive. Cleaning is her ideal job and she excels at it. She hos has desires, which leads her to doing things that she may not have done with enough time to think.

She also is a voyeur; in that she hides in the guests' rooms to observe what they get up to, and I do not mean which channels they want to watch on the television either. Then one day she experiences an encounter between a dominatrix and her client and she is inexorably drawn to the exotic and alluring creature – and so begins her journey.

Now this is a film that will appeal to as many as it repels in that it is about sexual unorthodoxy but is not a sex film per se. It is a very good and even intimate exploration of lust and desire and the fetishistic side of human nature. It is well made and acted and has those moments where very little appears to be happening but that helps juxtapose the mundanity of the ordinary as it segues into the extraordinary in other peoples ordinariness. In German with good sub titles this is for you if you enjoy films that area bit left field and as such recommended.

Vicky Krieps brings a nice charm to this role, adeptly displaying her initial social awkwardness and subsequent growing confidence.

Not entirely plausible in its handling of her surreptitious activities, it nevertheless unfolds the story well using these scenes to illustrate her development and ultimate building of a real relationship (of sorts).

Nicely done.

Some little films come along that challenge the status quo of current cinema menus. Such is the case with this little film that dares go places others fear – and it is to the credit of Film Movement to keep these before our eyes. Without the use of apocalyptic subject matter or robots or building explosions or cars crashes or potty mouth dialogue or the repetitious Marvel Comics backlog of reruns, THE CHAMBERMAID is simply a study of one young girls mind – the past effects of abuse and mental illness, and the need to be loved or at least truly desired.

The unlikely pairing of an obsessive-compulsive chambermaid and an androgynous dominatrix proves oddly liberating for the eponymous heroine of this film. 'The beauty of cleaning is that everything gets dirty again' is the motto of Lynn (Vicky Krieps), someone who needs to cling to what she knows in order to at least feel safe, though routines, places and objects initially seem preferable to people. In time Lynn is seen handling guests' objects and then secretly begins to spy on them in their rooms, it slowly becomes clear that she's starting to find other people fascinating, if perhaps a bit startling. In her obsessive-compulsive role as a chambermaid she crawls under a bed to vacuum the bottom of a mattress, or uses a dentist's angled mirror to check that she's scrubbed all the dirt from the underside of a toilet rim. She rarely interacts with others, yet is endlessly curious about how others live, inspecting their habits with the kind of baffled interest generally reserved for other species. She tries on their clothes (men's as well as women's), examines the pictures in their wallets and reads the inscriptions on their rings. She even hides beneath their beds to observe them unseen. Along comes a guest (Christian Aumer) with a bottle-blond dominatrix, Chiara (Lena Lauzemis), experienced almost entirely through the use of sound and the brilliant face of Lynn, who's hiding under the bed and can only image what must be going on. Through Chiara, it dawns on Lynn that pain doesn't necessarily need to be negative and that intimacy can happen in a context that's a lot more controlled than in real life (read: paid for). This sets into motion the film's last act, which may be predictable emotionally: the encounter has less to do with S&M than with a slow, careful initiation into intimacy, Chiara seeming to know just how to gently nudge her client into accepting, then welcoming, her touch; their sex-for-hire transactions morph into something deeper, their lovemaking achieving a unique blend of force and tenderness. Lynn learns to interact directly with another human being while Chiara discovers a genuine liking for her pupil. Chiara is amused by Lynn's strictly regimented routine, just as Lynn is bemused by the lack of structure in Chiara's freelance lifestyle.

New subject matter realized in a very sensitive way, this film will fascinate those fatigued by movies that rely solely on special effects as opposed to human stories. Masterfully directed by Ingo Haeb.

I love this film that I just saw and had to write about it!

It's Lynn's experience, I just find her so intriguing. And the way the camera follows her as she goes about her occupation as a hotel-room cleaner; it gives this person, Lynn, intriguing significance in her normalcy. I found her as charming a character as Amelie! (from that well known French movie

The thread with Lynn's sexuality was good but I found Lynn herself more intriguing, and I found the possibility of lesbian intimacy with this other woman for Lynn and them, more interesting than the BDSM.

Thoroughly interesting character presentation here, guided by the camera's intriguing focus on this woman. Worth it!

What an incredible and surprising movie. Because one never catches Lynn acting one feels more and more like a voyeur in her life. A very bitter/sweet tale never getting sugary. Lynn, played by Vicky Krieps, gives one at times the creeps as well, for what a lonely life to live. Outstanding as Domina, Lena Lauzemis. She plays a Domina as of she has done it all her life. A movie one doesn't forget.