The Chambermaid
Kino Lorber | Release Date: June 26, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
81
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJun 26, 2019
The film’s style is austere — there are few camera movements and no musical score — but its visual wit and emotional sensitivity lift it above the minimalist miserablism that drags down so many well-meaning films about modern workers. After you’ve seen it, the world looks different. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleJul 8, 2019
It may feel as if these are loosely structured vignettes, but there’s an accumulation at work — the steady drip of dimensionality that the best movies about people at their jobs know how to turn into a complete picture. Read full review
90
TheWrapCarlos AguilarJun 26, 2019
Measured in its pacing but never stagnant, The Chambermaid quietly fleshes out Eve’s subconscious with actions rather than words. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comMonica CastilloJun 26, 2019
Slow, steady, and with an exacting eye for detail, Lila Avilés’ The Chambermaid is a painfully astute observational drama about a young woman working in one of Mexico City’s posh hotels. Read full review
88
ObserverOliver JonesJun 22, 2019
Like the metropolis that sprawls out far below the rooms she cleans, the film quietly pulses with life. And like Eve, we are left hoping she has a larger part to play in that world beyond smoothing blankets and folding toilet paper ends into perfect little triangles. Read full review
80
EmpireIan FreerJul 26, 2019
The Chambermaid is a poignant portrait of one of life’s have-nots, sensitively played by Cartol as a woman slowly sinking into non-existence. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawJul 24, 2019
Cartol gives a very persuasive performance as Eve, whose inner life is always simmering and bubbling under, while she must maintain a facial blankness as cloudless and pristine as the towels and sheets. Read full review
80
VarietyPeter DebrugeJun 28, 2019
Director Lila Avilés has designed her debut feature, The Chambermaid, to give audiences the opposite opportunity, inviting us to step into the shoes of an invisible woman for two hours, and as such, her film is a rare and special thing. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 9, 2019
I still found it engrossing, and in a country where most hotels have chambermaids that look just like Evelia, occasionally moving and often troubling. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineDiego SemereneMar 28, 2019
Lila Avilés’s film reserves the possibility of flirtations with disaster to turn into acts of emancipation. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJonathan HollandJun 18, 2019
Its dispassionate approach toward the major injustices and minuscule triumphs that make up the life of its protagonist, superbly played by Gabriela Cartol, is always balanced by compassion, perhaps making it more effective than any impassioned rant. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonJul 5, 2019
Shot almost entirely within a hotel, the film operates as a low-budget answer to “Roma,” Alfonso Cuarón’s much-lauded film that also centers on the life of a domestic worker. Read full review
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