Women's Work: Lubitsch & Chomet, Cluny Brown & The Illusionist

...Lubitsch's last film is a zany yet sophisticated satire on English manners laced with hilarious, sexual innuendo using every plumbing metaphor available. The English and their drains are just too damned stopped-up, which provide Boyer and Jones--her first, highly successful attempt at comedy--golden opportunities to delight us at every turn. When they can no longer deny their attraction, Belinski declares: "I would build you the most beautiful mansion, with the most exquisite and complicated plumbing, I would hand you a hammer, and say, Ladies and Gentlemen, Madame Cluny Belinksi is about to put the pipes in their place!"...

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Penelope Andrew is a NYC-based writer who contributes to The Huffington Post, Westview News, and Critical Women on Film. She is a member of the Women Film Critics Circle.