TIFF 2026 Review: The Diary of a Chambermaid

A Romanian migrant is a live-in housekeeper at the behest of her employers she prepares for an amateur production of The Diary of a Chambermaid.

While working for an upper-class couple in France as a live-in housekeeper, Gianina has constant FaceTime chats with her daughter who longs for them to be reunited in Romania; her offspring is jealous that the boy of her employers gets more personal attention than she does.  In between all of this, the immigrant stars in an amateur production of The Diary of a Chambermaid.

The best part of the narrative are the conversations that Gianina has with her daughter and mother and the scenes where she is taking videos to show them various things discovered during her journeys.  What is far less successful are the theatre performances which are too long and feel like it should be in an entirely different movie.  The countdown to Christmas through with numerous slates indicating the date, does not allow for any flow and makes everything come across as segmented.

At times, Ana Dumitrașcu could pass as the sister of Noomi Rapace and shows a similar dramatic range. Sofia Dragoman does an admirable job as the heartbroken Maria given that her performances are seen strictly through the iPhone. Mélanie Thierry and Vincent Macaigne do come across as stuffy, self-centred, and clueless couple while Marie Rivière provides some emotional heft as the bedridden matriarch.  A nice surreal yet touching moment is when Gianina and Madame Anne are having a bedside chat wearing battery-powered Santa hats.

The 51st Toronto International Film Festival runs September 10-20, 2026, and for more information visit tiff.net.   

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada; he can be found at LinkedIn.