A Judgement in Stone introduced by Prof. Catherine Dousteyssier-Khoze (Durham University)

In Chabrol’s most iconic psychological thriller, the unlikely friendship between Sophie (Sandrine Bonnaire), the new live-in maid to a wealthy family, and postal worker Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert), sets in motion an unpredictable chain of events. Loosely based on Ruth Rendell’s novel A Judgement in Stone, La Cérémonie is a forensic examination of class hatred, jealousy and the unspoken hold of dark secrets. The stars were aligned: from the director’s razor-sharp camerawork and editing that make every gaze and every silence count, to the stellar performances from the two leads (Huppert and Bonnaire shared the Best Actor Prize at the Venice Film Festival), everything was in place to turn La Cérémonie into an instant classic.