The Maids 1974 ***

A theatre production filmed with few frills, other than a strangely out of context opening, Jean Genet’s play finds two ideal sisters in Glenda Jackson and Susanna York.  Vivian Merchant plays the Madame who employs them, but much of the film is given over to the maids role-playing master/slave situations, taking the power-games of their employment and using them on each other. The point about how we dehumanise each other through relationships is well-made, and also the filming style is bland, the powerhouse performances from Jackson and York under Christopher Miles’s direction makes The Maids a valuable document of a great theatre performance.