You are here:

The Women on the 6th Floor

Name: The Women on the 6th Floor
Director: Philippe Le Guay
Released: 2011
Duration: 106 min

Representation Score

7.1/10

Good

2011

Not Rated

Director

Philippe Le Guay

Runtime

106 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

The film successfully dismantles 1960s social hierarchies by highlighting the influence of domestic workers. By shifting the focus from the male protagonist’s professional life to the social networks of women, the story challenges traditional power structures. Ethnic diversity is used effectively to spark character development. The Spanish maids serve as a bridge to a 'new civilization,' breaking the social isolation of the wealthy French characters. However, the film is limited by its period-specific setting, which lacks LGBTQ+ representation and disability visibility. The narrative remains centered on the tension between class and gender rather than broader identity issues.

Watch this, not that →

Category Breakdown

Does The Women on the 6th Floor have LGBTQ+ representation?

Minimal

The film does not include explicit LGBTQ+ characters or non-cisgender identities. It stays within the social structures of 1960s France, where everyone is assumed to be straight.

How does The Women on the 6th Floor portray gender?

Good

Women play a key role in driving the story by offering emotional support and social skills that change the male lead. The film highlights female social networks over traditional male authority.

How racially and ethnically diverse is The Women on the 6th Floor?

Good

Spanish maids provide a colorful contrast to the strict French upper class. Their presence adds diversity to the historically uniform setting of the period piece.

How does The Women on the 6th Floor represent religion and culture?

Good

The story challenges Western class structures by comparing a sterile bourgeois lifestyle with the communal energy of the immigrant working class. This contrast fosters moral growth.

Does The Women on the 6th Floor include disability representation?

Limited

There is no significant or meaningful depiction of visible or invisible disabilities. The narrative focuses solely on class and gender dynamics.

Present on Screen

Challenges traditional gender hierarchies by emphasizing female social influence.
Uses ethnic diversity to question the homogeneity of the French upper class.
Offers a nuanced critique of rigid Western class structures.

Limited or Absent

Does not include LGBTQ+ characters or non-cisgender identities.
Provides no meaningful depiction of visible or invisible disabilities.
Works within a largely straight-focused social framework.

Official Synopsis

Paris, in the early 1960s. Jean-Louis Joubert is a serious but uptight stockbroker, married to Suzanne, a starchy class-conscious woman and father of two arrogant teenage boys, currently in a boarding school. The affluent man lives a steady yet boring life. At least until, due to fortuitous circumstances, Maria, the charming new maid at the service of Jean-Louis' family, makes him discover the servants' quarter on the sixth floor of the luxury building he owns and lives in. There live a crowd of lively Spanish maids who will help Jean-Louis to open to a new civilization and a new approach of life. In their company - and more precisely in the company of beautiful Maria - Jean-Louis will gradually become another man, a better man.

How are these scores produced? →