The Chambermaid 

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Foreign movies are usually a chore for us Americans; with all those subtitles, it's easy to leave a foreign flick feeling as though we had to read the damn thing as well as watch it. Lucky for us, movies have to be pretty good to get across the Big Water, and "The Chambermaid" may well be worth your trouble.

Olivier Martinez plays Horty, a rural French foundry worker who wins a trip to see the Titanic leave port in Southampton, England. While staying at the hotel, the shy, reserved Horty is approached by Marie (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) a beautiful mystery girl who is a chambermaid on the next day's maiden voyage of the Titanic. What happens in the hotel bedroom, and Horty's subsequent fantasies concerning Marie and their "love," get passed around Horty's hometown like wildfire until the whole village starts congregating at the local bar to hear his stories of ecstasy.

And whether or not you buy the rest of the movie hinges on how much you like it, how much fantasy you can stand, and how willing you are to go along with director J.J. Bigas Luna's vision. It's a tough sell at times, and not just because of the language barrier—you start to wonder what the point of Horty's journey really was, and his wife, delivered with shrill intensity by Romane Bohringer, gets a little tough to take.

But stick with it, and you might find yourself in the midst of all the big questions about the Art in your life: Does everyone need a muse? If we really knew who our muse was, would the magic of creation be ruined? How important is fantasy, even in the dual world of knowing it is all lies? More about the craft of being an actor above all else, "The Chambermaid" is an occasionally inspiring journey to the heart of one man's imagination, and it can be satisfying. Even when you're reading subtitles.

—Ian Williams

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