chambermaid

In the days leading up to my stay at Hotel 850, I read “The Hotel” by Sophie Calle, a book documenting the week the artist spent working as a chambermaid at a hotel in Venice, Italy.

And in the French Canadian director Éric Gravel’s 2021 film, “Full Time,” a single mother’s life as the lead chambermaid of a luxury hotel in Paris unfolds with the intensity of a continuous heart attack.

The cast includes Adam Jackson-Smith as Basil Fawlty, Anna-Jane Casey as his wife Sybil, Hemi Yeroham as waiter Manuel and Victoria Fox as Polly, the chambermaid who often rescues Basil from difficult situations.

For the casting of “Tótem,” Avilés enlisted her “Chambermaid” star and friend Gabriela Cartol as co-casting director.

Avilés’ technique has grown looser, more mobile and rough-hewn than in her 2018 debut feature, “The Chambermaid,” a meticulously composed portrait of a worker in a luxury hotel.