Serious people will find that since RDC + five floors are the standard structure of Haussmann buildings, where does the sixth floor, the 6e étage, come from?
In Paris in the early nineteenth century, the hierarchy of a Haussmann building clearly marked the social status of the occupants (the floor of the Hong Kong HSBC that received depositors was linked to the number of deposits in his account, which was the same as in Paris at that time, although in a different form. , but essentially the same). RDC, for example, is often used as a commercial store because it is located on the ground floor and is easily accessible. The most beautiful is the 2e étage, as there are balconies that run across the building. In the age of no elevators, dignitaries were reluctant to climb stairs, so 2e étage was ideal, not too high, but also a certain distance from the shops, and you could walk to the balcony to see the street view. To paraphrase the verses of "Broken Chapter", if you look at the street view, the street view is also looking at you. Showing oneself in front of all beings is a kind of obligation, but also a kind of joy.
As for 6e étage, there is neither a separate toilet nor a window facing the street view, because the room on this floor is specially reserved for the servants, so it is called "maid's room", so it is completely excluded from the basic beyond the concept of structure. Of course, the servants can't use the bathroom of the master's house, and even the stairs are separated. So when Maria first arrives in Paris in the film, the janitor downstairs will tell them that you have to take the servant stairs. And when the hostess agreed with Maria to use the boys' bathroom, she actually showed her recognition of Maria's work and her trust in this person.
6e étage, just above our heads, but its communication with the outside world is only one-way, only the servants will go downstairs to serve the master, and the masters will almost never care about the other world above their heads. Even the servants are not used to the visit and "temporary stay" of the master, and they will demand that "the master should live in the master's place".
Downstairs, there are generations of bourgeois families, even teenage children should be called "Mr.", the husband has little real love, even his mother "hasn't loved anyone", and the wife She is a "grand lady" from other provinces to Paris. Knowing that her husband likes elegant and shiny women, she uses it every day for dressing up and socializing. And upstairs, is a group of always happy Spanish women. Although they also quarrel, most of them are devout Catholics, and there are also republicans who are firmly opposed to Franco, but all women know to face life with laughter, housework is still housework, but if you can do housework Sing and dance, then housework will also become a joy.
This is not a love movie, at least, not just a love movie. Is the plot so cliché? The master fell in love with the maid? What attracted Mr. Joubert was not just a maid, Maria (she wasn't really that pretty), but another way of life, an attitude towards life. It's simple, unpretentious, with sparks dancing everywhere, completely different from the rigorous, rigid, dark office (remember that shot of Joubert rolling up the window, what a beautiful sunshine). Joubert was evicted from the home he knew, but found another, for 45 years, a living space that truly belonged to him.
For Joubert, life used to be just "the egg is ready, and the day will be beautiful." But the lives of Spanish women really sparked his passion. His wife would think he was glowing because of his love, but couldn't understand that such a group of Spanish aunts who spoke so fast, talked like a quarrel, and had no way of laughing would make Joubert willing to give up his current life.
And Maria, who once "disgraced" her Catholic family, came to Paris with a heavy mental burden, a gray, elegant city with a strict hierarchy. Limoge's porcelain, Baccarat's cup, can only be called "Mr." and "Mrs."... But she will gradually recover and become happy again, from restrained and cautious to cheerful.
In the 1960s, in order to escape Franco's dictatorship, so many Spanish aunts left their families and came to France to work as servants. One day, they will go back to their real home. As for Joubert, he finally found a way of life and a place that suits him. There are Maria who hangs the sheets in the open air, and the sunshine in Spain.
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