The wife and I saw a lovely movie this evening: Les Femmes du Sixième Etage. The story begins in 1962 and follows the adventures of several Spanish maids working in a Paris building and living in the chambres de bonne on the sixth, well, we would call it the seventh floor. I haven't seen such a collection of wonderful faces in a movie since the sailors in Master and Commander (faces recruited, I understand, from Eastern Europe). Marvelous dialog, a delightful plot. My only reservation is that I can't love the old man getting the young chick (as much as my id cheers for that dénouement.)
I know very well what a chambre de bonne is because I once came very close to living in one. The lady from the apartment agency showed me a couple as I looked for a place to live after arriving in Paris in 1966 to study at the Ecole de Hautes Etudes, 6e Section. She finally found me a room in the apartment of a stately lady, Madame de Cautine, the widow (or so she claimed) of a minor minister in the Schuman government shortly after WWII. The apartment was on the rue Vaugirard near the Porte de Versailles, and after Mme. de Cautine drove me out (I lasted about two months), I lived for a while in the Hôtel Molière in the rue de l'Ancienne Comédie. A real dump, but perfect for the impecunious grad student. Ultimately I lived in a closet on the sixième, so I probably should have grabbed the chambre de bonne while I could.
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