Jane (Blair Brown) is an absolute character opposite. A doctor whose white garb matches her white furniture and rug, she is rigid where Mathilde (dressed in black) is laid back as well as gifted with a controlled humor and sensuality. That division extends to the barrier Jane sets between herself and the maid. She declares, “I don’t want an interesting person to clean my house. I just want my house cleaned.” She thinks that servants should to be talked to as a doctor to a nurse. - See more at: http://www.thekomisarscoop.com/2007/02/the-clean-house-a-quirky-satire-about-social-class/#sthash.AQVQg2NV.dpuf
The class barriers are broken by her sister, Virginia (Jill Clayburgh), and her husband Charles (John Dossett). Clayburgh sparkles as the nervous suburbanite, Virginia, who likes to clean. As her house is done by 3 o’clock, she makes a deal with Mathilde to let her secretly clean Jane’s house. - See more at: http://www.thekomisarscoop.com/2007/02/the-clean-house-a-quirky-satire-about-social-class/#sthash.AQVQg2NV.dpuf
Charles, also a doctor, further smashes the rules about the social divisions by falling in love with Ana (Concetta Tomei), an older woman on whom he has performed a mastectomy. Not only does her operation presumably ought to make her less desirable, but the engaging Ana lives in a small apartment, albeit with a balcony overlooking the sea, that is no match for Jane’s soigné elegant suburban home. - See more at: http://www.thekomisarscoop.com/2007/02/the-clean-house-a-quirky-satire-about-social-class/#sthash.AQVQg2NV.dpuf
Charles declares that according to Jewish law, you are legally obligated to break off relations with your spouse if you find a soul mate. Jane replies, “But you’re not Jewish.” He counters, “I heard about beshert on a radio program.” Mathilde, who is looking for the perfect joke, may have found it in the nutty conversation of a couple in process of breaking up. - See more at: http://www.thekomisarscoop.com/2007/02/the-clean-house-a-quirky-satire-about-social-class/#sthash.AQVQg2NV.dpuf