Screening: January 29, 2012

SYNOPSIS

A Parisian captain of industry learns that there’s much more to life than turning a profit in Philippe Le Guay’s charming movie about friendship across class and language divides. Set in 1962, The Women on the 6th Floor centers on the transformation of third-generation stockbroker Jean- Louis, husband of a brittle, insecure woman from the provinces and father of two boarding-school brats. The self-centered businessman starts to discover his altruistic side after he’s made aware of the inferior plumbing and other, graver hardships endured by the half-dozen Spanish maids, refugees from Franco’s regime, who live above him. Among the sextet is recent arrival María, who stirs deep compassion in Jean-Louis, her new employer, with her stories of working 15 hours a day as a teenager at a tobacco factory back home. The kindnesses Jean-Louis bestows on his new amigas, led by the marvelous veteran Spanish actress Carmen Maura, do not go unreciprocated: they introduce to him to many Iberian pleasures, including paella, Malaga wine, and coplas.