Cinema Sundays 12/13, "The Maid"   Cinema Sundays Fall 2009 Series 46! Sunday December 13th, 2009 Cinema Sundays at the Charles concludes its 46th series on December 13th, with the Baltimore Premier of The Maid (La Nana). Written and Directed by Sebastian Silva. Starring Catalina Saaevedra, Claudia Caledon, Alejandro Goic, Andrea Garcia-Huidobro, Mariana Loyola, Augustin Silva. 2009 Chile/Mexico. Running time 115 minutes. Synopsis After 23 years working as housemaid in an upper class Santiago, Chile household, Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) is as much a part of the Valdez family as the wife, husband, and kids she lives with and... After 23 years working as housemaid in an upper class Santiago, Chile household, Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) is as much a part of the Valdez family as the wife, husband, and kids she lives with and looks after. On the occasion of Raquel’s 41st birthday Pilar Valdez (Claudia Celedon), her husband Mundo (Alejandro Goic) and their oldest son Lucas (Agustin Silva) force the sullen, withdrawn maid to emerge from her kitchen sanctum and join the family for a brief celebration at the close of dinner. But Raquel’s discomfort is as strong as her “family’s” need to acknowledge their awkward dependence on her and she soon withdraws to her room. Plagued by migraines and dizziness, Raquel nevertheless devotes herself to her domestic responsibilities and to a complex series of relationships with the individual family members she serves. For insecure Pilar the maid has become the de facto head of the household. For teenage Lucas Raquel has transformed from surrogate mother to crush-object. For daughter Camila, (Andrea Garcia-Huidobro) Raquel is a bitterly resented opponent in an ongoing and undeclared psyche war fought via noisy early morning vacuuming, ignored instructions, and constant complaints and accusations. Over Raquel’s objections Pilar hires a second domestic to ease the workload and hopefully improve her beloved maid’s grim attitude and increasingly poor health. Young and pretty Peruvian au pair Mercedes (Mercedes Villanueva) is an instant success with the rest of the family, particularly Raquel’s nemesis Camila. But behind the scenes Raquel quietly and mercilessly torments her new co-worker and eventually her campaign of comically petty and unrelenting psychological abuse succeeds in driving Mercedes away. At her patrician mother’s suggestion, Pilar borrows longtime housemaid Sonia (Anita Reeves) who resists Raquel’s provocations more forcefully. Tensions between Sonia and Raquel escalate to the breaking point and when the two veteran maids come to blows and Mundo’s prized ship model is destroyed as they brawl, Sonia is dismissed. Raquel’s victory is brief. She collapses while serving breakfast and grudgingly accepts a period of bed rest and convalescence. When Raquel returns to work she discovers that Lucy (Mariana Loyola), a cheerful new maid near her own age, has effectively taken Raquel’s place. Raquel’s household terror tactics prove no match for Lucy’s humor and resilience and as their trust and affection grows, lonely and jealous Raquel begins to transform. Lucy invites Raquel to spend Christmas with her rural farm family and for the first time in her life Raquel feels what it’s like to be truly treated as an equal. She even kindles romance with Lucy’s cousin. Lucy’s deep emotional need to be with her own family keeps her from forming the same tangled relationships with the members of the Valdez household, she becomes increasingly disenchanted with domestic service and city living. As Raquel, grateful and more cheerful, sets out to organize a surprise birthday party for her new friend, Lucy announces that she has decided to go back to the farm. Will Raquel be able to sustain her dawning appreciation for life beyond the kitchen and continue to develop a positive new outlook? --© Official Site Click on the following for trailer and official site. http://www.themaidmovie.com/ Cinema Sundays concludes its 46th series with the Baltimore premiere of The Maid. This highly acclaimed film was a huge hit at Sundance and currently boasts a 97% positive rating on Rottentomatoes.com. (This might just make up for Oh My God!) This ‘domestic’ drama should be great fodder for discussion and a fitting way to end our current series. I am delighted to announce that our speaker this week is none other than Max Weiss from Baltimore Magazine and WBAL. It’s a pleasure to welcome her back to Cinema Sundays. Looking forward to seeing you on the 13th. Jonathan Palevsky Jpalevsky@aol.com If you’ve never been to Cinema Sundays before, see below for our stimulating, updated, yet official description. Precisely at 9:45 on a given Sunday morning, while birds chirp in the most musical manner, the doors at the Charles Theatre swing open to reveal a lobby replete with tasty bagels, hot coffee and friendly volunteers ready to serve them to you. All of our volunteers have been pre-tested for a complete lack of morning grouchiness and provide the nicest service…within reason! J Guarded carefully by the enormous lobby penguin bagels, coffee and scintillating yet improvised conversation continues until 10:30. At precisely 10:30:07 some brief opening remarks by yours truly will be followed by a few remarks from our guest speaker who will never do either of two things. First he or she will never ever give away the plot of the film and second the speaker will not go on too long…especially if the film is one of those 2.5 hour Soviet era documentaries on the Romance of the Seven Tractor Drivers. Following a brief admonition not to talk during the film and a recommendation to sublet your cell phone to a starving student from the third world the screening will take place. Upon completion of the screening a robust question and answer session featuring our guest speaker will include your fascinating observations upon the recently screened movie. This flowery description barely describes the sublime joy and excitement which is Cinema Sundays. If there is a better way to spend Sunday mornings it simply hasn’t occurred to me….yet! Jonathan Palevsky Host of Cinema Sundays and completely reachable at JPalevsky@aol.com Please feel free to visit us at… Http://www.cinemasundays.com Tickets: $15 at the door. Or buy a mini-membership. 1711 N. Charles St. 410-727-3464 info: karenskicsc@comcast.net