The Chambermaid

Two young women’s master-and-servant relationship evolves into something entirely different during romantic, historical drama in a Prague Downton Abbey setting.

It is just before the First World War and fifteen-year-old Anka is sent from her Slovakian home village to work as a maid for a rich family in Prague. Resi, the insufferable daughter of the house, humiliates the insecure newcomer, but Anka soon sees through the hard surface, as she, in servant fashion, gains insight into the family’s secrets. As the political crisis turns into the war that will split Austria–Hungary, the young couple search for a way out in a patriarchal, warring world. The Chambermaid is a sensual but unsentimental depiction of love, sexual awakening, and the vulnerability of women, regardless of their position on the social scale. The wide-eyed hot feelings vibrate around Dana Droppová and Radka Caldová in the lead roles.

• Camilla Larsson