La Cérémonie tells the story of a young woman, Sophie Bonhomme (Sandrine Bonnaire),[3] who is hired as a maid by the Lelièvre family.

Throughout the film Sophie avoids using the dishwasher, refuses to take driving lessons, buys fake eyeglasses, and has trouble giving a cashier the correct change.

The viewer finds out later that Sophie is illiterate and has a history of violence since she is believed to have killed her disabled father, or at least not to have rescued him from the fire she might have set in his house.

It is what triggers the climax of the film, which sees Sophie and Jeanne seize Georges’ shotguns and murder the family who were watching a Mozart opera on television.

The end credits begin with the music of the opera that is being played back by a policeman on Melinda's tape-recorder, which Jeanne stole and put in her car.

"[9] The Criterion Collection called La Cérémonie "a must-see late-career triumph [...] [that] exemplifies the New Wave auteur’s mastery of suspense and twisted psychodrama.