At the steady rate of two or three movies a year (shorts and features combined), Romanian director Radu Jude has become one of the most prolific auteurs of our time.

That doesn’t always mean quality over quantity. See, for instance, last year’s overstuffed Dracula , which was bested by the other film he somehow shot at the same time, the minimalist drama Kontinental ’25 . Indeed, not all Jude movies are created equal, though even when they’ve been made too quickly, they’re always brimming with sociopolitical critiques, stylistic innovations and the director’s acerbic sense of humor.

Diary of a Chambermaid

The Bottom Line A century-old story gets a relevant update.

Venue: Cannes Film Festival (Directors’ Fortnight)

Cast: Ana Dumitrascu, Vincent Macaigne, Mélanie Thierry, Marie Rivière, Louen Bouteiller, Arnaud Baudoin, Ilinca Manolache

Director, screenwriter: Radu Jude

1 hour 34 minutes

Diary of a Chambermaid ( Le Journal d’une femme de chambre ), which marks Jude’s first feature in French, contains…