Jacqueline was nominated for a "César" award (the French equivalent of the Oscar) for Best Supporting Actress for her role as "Catherine Lelievre", a wife and mother who hires a strange new live-in housekeeper. (She performed in French, of course.) The film, the director (Claude Chabrol), Sandrine Bonnaire and Jean-Pierre Cassel* were also nominated for Césars, and Isabelle Huppert won the César for Best Actress. The film was named best Foreign Language Film in 1996 by both the Los Angles Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics (USA). It was based on the novel, "A Judgement in Stone" by Ruth Rendell.
1999: I was just watching the film on video again, and was really struck by how the movie draws you in. Everyone seems so ordinary, but there is something spooky or sinister lurking under the surface.
*Jean-Pierre Cassel has appeared in three other films with Jacqueline: "Murder on the Orient Express", "Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?", and "The Maid".
La Cérémonie has been released on video in the US.