Films that unsettle. Or a film that unsettled. And the bumper sticker version: ""WELL-BEHAVED WOMEN DON'T MAKE HISTORY"

I have a huge DVD and instant queue on Netflix. I pile up a bunch of films and then decide which to watch, depending upon my mood. I am talking here of the streaming queue; I seem to be constitutionally incapable of immediately watching the hard DVD that arrives in my mail. I am a very mood-driven viewer.

I am on a 'foreign' film kick. Anything not made in English within the continental United States and Alaska, and truly excluding parts of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, California, and Idaho.

I chose to watch "Murderous Maids" because it was in French, set in the first part of the 19th Century and sounded mildly pornographic. More precisely, kudos to the the folks who translated the title from the original French of "Les blessures assassines". Which according to the Google translator, would more read "Injuries Killer", with Google ignoring fact that the last word is plural. And feminine. But in English, we do not have gender connotations to our nouns. Except for "wife", "girlfriend" and "fiercely underpaid employee". And according to the Yahoo Translate function, the title in English would read "the wounds assissinate."

I actually like these translations, as they capture the essence of the compelling story. Two maids, sisters and neglected daughters, mercilessly and frenzily kill the mother and daughter for whom they work. Gosh! As I write "mother and daughter" - translation "mere et fille" - I understand further the choice of victims.

The puzzlement of the crime - two female domestics crushingly killing their patrons - is of great interest to the many writers, authors and film makers.  The motivation for the crimes is often interpreted as one involving class struggle.  There are definitely overtones of gender, sexuality, class, emotional hardships, religion, and mental illness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_and_Lea_Papin

It truly has stayed with me since I have seen this film.  I am going to look at other film and book treatments.

I'm also going to ask my kids to help a little more around the house.  I am also going to add "house cleaner" to my list of gender specific words.