Yvette the Maid, is a hidden villain from the 1985 black comedy Clue, based on the Parker Brothers Game. She is an original character created for the movie and is portrayed by actress Colleen Camp.
Film[]
Yvette is the young but rather jiggly Hill House Maid. This beautiful and buxom Frenchwoman is one of three servants present to attend to the guests at the mansion, along with Wadsworth the Butler and Mrs. Ho the Cook. It becomes evident very quickly that there is more to the fetching French Maid than she lets on- despite exposing much with her skimpy and revealingly dressed costume, Yvette also has a lot to hide.
WADSWORTH Is everything ready? She replies in a French accent. YVETTE Oui, monsieur. WADSWORTH You have your instructions? Yvette nods.
Yvette starts the night off preparing for the guests, delicately blowing on and polishing glassware whilst jiggling along to the American tune "Shake, Rattle, and Roll." After affirming she has her instructions for the night to Wadsworth (and checking to make sure a rank odor of dog poop he tracked in isn't coming from the bottom of her tight heels) she begins pouring champagne for the guests. As each of the guests arrive, their reactions to Yvette reveal much. Her and Colonel Mustard share a mutual attraction, which Wadsworth dryly notices and comments on for Yvette to keep her attendance to the Colonel "within reason." Mrs. White and Yvette flinch with recognition upon seeing each other, which Wadsworth also notices. Yvette ignores the obvious disgust Mrs.Peacock shows for her scantily clad body, whilst the beautiful Maid tries to catch the eye of the nervous Mr. Green with a sly and inviting smile. The lascivious Professor Plum gazes longingly at Yvette's cleavage, his desire for her apparent. Miss Scarlet does a better job of masking any connection with the French Maid, greeting her with a knowing smile, though Scarlet's glib tongue shows that she's quite familiar with Yvette's promiscuity.
BODDY I also received a letter. (Yvette starts to serve him again) No thanks, Yvette. I just ate. GREEN Now, how did you know her name? BODDY We know each other. (puts his hand up Yvette's (short) skirt) Don't we, dear? She recoils.
Nevertheless, Yvette attempts to keep up appearances as a simple Maid. At dinner she serves the guest, seeming to make a point of sticking her overflowing cleavage in their faces (to the delight of Professor Plum). However, when the mysterious Mr. Boddy arrives and reveals his own past, apparently intimate, relationship with the young Maid by calling her by name and reaching up her flouncy skirt to feel her derriere, Yvette pulls away. The fear she has at being associated with Boddy is palpable. With good reason, as it is revealed Mr Boddy is the blackmailer of the various guests after Yvette has been dismissed to other activities- namely listening in and recording the confrontation between Wadsworth, Boddy, and the guests in the study from the Billiard Room. After Mr. Boddy is apparently murdered by a gun shot from one of the weapons he gave each guest to kill Wadsworth, Yvette screams and is found by the party. She reveals she had been recording the confrontation and her fears of being poisoned by the cognac (which the guests thought may have killed the unscathed Boddy) and left alone in the Billiard Room to die. Comforted first by Miss Scarlet, she ends up in the arms of Colonel Mustard as the party goes back to the study. When Wadsworth reveals more details on his plans for the evening on unmasking Mr.Boddy's blackmailing plot, Mustard pulls away, perhaps beginning to suspect Yvette has more involvement than she is letting on. The disgruntled Maid flashes her panties as she is forced to sit next to a repulsed Mrs. Peacock. When Wadsworth and Yvette reveal the Cook is the only other person in the house, the party (minus Yvette) rush find her dead in kitchen. Returning with Mrs. Ho's corpse to the study, they find that Mr. Boddy's body is gone. Yvette subtlety rejoins the party at this point, then points Mrs. Peacock to the bathroom. Miss Scarlet finds photographic negatives of the Colonel in a compromising situation...and seems to hint Yvette might have more intimate knowledge than she lets on of the carnal photos when the Maid refuses to look at them on the grounds of being a "lay-dee" which Miss Scarlet scoffs at, while claiming there is something that concerns Scarlet as well. White and Plum get their own good look at the photos before Mrs. Peacock screams at finding Mr. Boddy, dead again with new injuries. Yvette then helps drag the Cooks corpse onto the couch (giving Professor Plum a closeup of her cleavage, again).
PEACOCK How did you know it was unlocked? How did you know that you could get at the gun? YVETTE I didn't. I sink--I would bray kit open bud it was open alreddy. PEACOCK A likely story.
After locking up the other weapons and having a stranded motorist seek shelter in the Mansion, the party decides to split up to make sure there is no one else in the house. Yvette's flirtations with Mr. Green continue to fall flat, though the Maid luckily (or perhaps intentionally) manages to draw the long straw that will send her alone to the attic with him. Her attempts to cuddle up with Mr. Green as they ascend to the attic are rejected and leave the poor Maid baffled. When Mustard and Scarlet discover the motorist's corpse in the locked lounge and start screaming, Yvette scrambles to save them- once again exposing herself to questions when she goes to the now unlocked cupboard with the weapons, pulls out the gun, and shoots the lock out with an accuracy not usually found in a French Maid's repertoire of skills. Though Yvette protests her innocence, it doesn't seem the guests are buying it. The party is interrupted with a string of doorbell rings, answering it to find a police officer asking after the deceased motorist. Once again, Yvette is recognized when the cop catches sight of her, though she give her best Gallic shrug when he questions if he knows her from some place. Yvette again disappears as the cop comes upon the guests faking relations with the dead to keep him from being suspicious, before rejoining the group once more when they split back into their pairs. Her final attempt to cuddle up to Mr. Green is met with rejection as they once again go to the attic together.
VOICE Shut the door. Did anyone recognize you? Suddenly, Yvette's French accent is gone. YVETTE They must have. And not just my face. They know every inch of my body. And they're not the only ones . . . A noose flies onto Yvette's neck! YVETTE (gasping) It's you!
When a gloved hand shuts off the lights of Hill House, Yvette sneaks away from Mr. Green and, as silently as her outfit allows, makes her way downstairs to the Billiard Room. There, a masked voice instructs her to shut the door, before asking if anyone recognized her. Yvette drops her French accent completely, walking towards the source of the voice and responding "They must have and not just my face. They know every inch of my body and they're not the only ones." Suddenly, the noose is thrown over Yvette's neck! The doomed girl's eyes widen in horror as she gets a clear look at her assailant and she cries out in terror, "It's YOU!!!" The noose then closes around Yvette's windpipe and she is dragged, gasping for air, off screen. The Cop and a Singing Telegram Girl are both murdered as well, before Wadsworth turns the lights back on. He is the first to spot what is in the Billiard Room, the other members of the party noting his expression, they all look inside. Yvette's corpse lay sprawled across the Pool Table. The noose that had strangled her still tight around her neck, her legs dangling over the tables edge as her hands still reach in futile desperation at the rope used to murder her. Though a few of the party look distraught at Yvette's murder, they walk off without a word at the poor girls awful demise.
WHITE All right, it's true. I knew Yvette. My husband had an affair with her, but I didn't care. I wasn't . . . jealous. WADSWORTH (to Miss Scarlet) You knew Yvette, too, didn't you? SCARLET Yes. She worked for me. WADSWORTH (to Col. Mustard) And you also knew her, sir. We've already established that you were one of Miss Scarlet's . . . clients. That's why you were so desperate to get your hands on those negatives. Photographs of you and Yvette in flagrante delicto, remember?
Following Yvette's death, Wadsworth connects the dots for the guests, revealing how and why the murders that took place did. The young "French Maid' is revealed to be one of Mr. Boddy's accomplices- she provided the dastardly blackmailer with information on several of the guests. This includes Mrs. White, who's husband Yvette had an affair with, upon which discovering the affair it is hinted Mrs. White then murdered the cheating spouse, which Yvette passed on to Mr. Boddy. The busty "Maid" was also a call girl for Miss Scarlet, the Madame at a brothel in DC. While working there, Yvette had intimate relations with Colonel Mustard, as shown in the (now destroyed) photographic negatives, which were of the well endowed Call-Girl and Mustached Colonel in some passionate positions. These secrets Yvette also gave to Mr. Boddy, betraying her Mistress and lover to the unscrupulous mastermind. These affairs and betrayals would ultimately end with Yvette being strangled, though the exact reasons change upon each of the different endings of the film.
SCARLET I don't think they know my real business. My business is secrets. Yvette found them out for me.
In ending A, Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren) is behind the murders and the true mastermind of the blackmailing. Miss Scarlet served as Yvette's Madame at a brothel in Washington D.C. and used her former call girl to murder The Cook with the knife in the back while the guests were checking over Mr. Boddy's "corpse." Yvette then returned to the Billiard Room and screamed to bring the guests to her. Miss Scarlet then had Yvette kill Mr. Boddy, as Boddy had been pretending to be dead after Scarlet's earlier attempt to shoot him. Yvette had stayed behind while the others ran to the kitchen to see the Cook, bludgeoning him in the head with the candle stick when he runs, then dragging him to the toilet. Yvette seems to have been Miss Scarlet's main source of information, both in blackmailing the other guests and on the in's and out's of Hill House, Scarlet having used a secret passage revealed by Yvette to kill the Motorist. As the night goes on and with so many of her former Call Girl's past affairs able to recognize the scantily clad accomplice, Scarlet decides to retire Yvette, permanently. Miss Scarlet ultimately betrays and murders Yvette when it is apparent she has outlived her usefulness, strangling the hapless "Maid" to keep her secrets from being exposed.
PLUM Why did she do it? WADSWORTH Was it because she was acting under orders? From the person who later killed her. PLUM Who?! PEACOCK Who?! SCARLET Who?! WADSWORTH Was it one of her clients? (turns to Col. Mustard) Or was it a jealous wife? (turns to Mrs. White) Or an adulterous doctor? (turns to Prof. Plum) No. It was her employer, Miss Scarlet. SCARLET That's a lie!! WADSWORTH Is it? You used her, the way you always used her.
In ending B, Yvette is murdered by Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan), who is worried the former Call-Girl and other informants might have learned of her secret dealings with foreign powers through their association with Mr. Boddy and the Cook (who had worked for Peacock). She kills each of the informants when she learns of their past dealings with Boddy, strangling Yvette when it becomes apparent she has close relations with Mrs. Peacocks blackmailer.
You WERE jealous that your husband was schtuping Yvette. That's why you killed him, too!
In ending C, she is murdered by Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn), who killed her to get revenge for Yvette having an affair with her husband. Yvette had been working with Wadsworth, who is revealed to be the real Mr. Boddy. He had maneuvered each of his blackmail victims into a position to murder his accomplices, having his own butler pretending to be him earlier. Wadsworth(Boddy) sends Mrs. White in his place to meet Yvette in the Billiard Room, where White has her long awaited vengeance, throttling Yvette for stealing her husband. This plays right into Mr. Boddy's plans, as White has now eliminated an informant who could expose him, whilst being able to blackmail the black widow for Yvette's murder. He confronts White over Yvette's body, forcing her to look at her handiwork as Mrs. White lapses into a trance, confessing "Yes. Yes, I did it. I killed Yvette. I hated her so much... it-it- the f - it -flam - flames. Flames, on the side of my face, breathing-breathless- heaving breaths."
It is interesting to note that when this movie was released to the movie theaters throughout the US in 1985, that each theater received only one of the three endings. It was the movie productions wish, that this would inspire the general public to attend a different movie theater to see an alternative ending. It was not a huge success. Therefore, when it was released on video, the three endings were included all together. The movie became a huge cult classic as a result.
Character[]
Yvette plays the sexy French Maid in the movie, whose job it is to greet and serve the guests at a party in a secluded New England Victorian style mansion. Though she moves with practiced grace and polished poise in her role as the Maid, as the night goes on and bodies pile up, both her French accent and refined mannerisms start to slip. Yvette does her best to appear as innocent as possible, both in terms of her sexual appeal and her knowledge surrounding the dark events of the evening. Though it is tough to take your eyes off her, Yvette nevertheless manages to slip away several times throughout the evening of murder unnoticed, perhaps to commit nefarious acts. As cracks begin to show in Yvette's story and persona, her hair becomes more frazzled and her movements more desperate, causing her skimpy Maid uniform to spill out more cleavage. There are plenty of times during the movie where the guests are caught admiring or jealously repulsed by her incredible assets and the Maid's revealing uniform leaves her exposed to the eyes of her (many) past affairs. Colonel Mustard, Mrs. White, Miss Scarlet, Mr. Boddy, and the Cop all seem to have some carnal knowledge of the lovely Yvette, who's recognition further condemns her as the night progresses.
WADSWORTH So. Now you all know why they died. Whoever killed Mr. Boddy also wanted his accomplices dead.
Yvette's French Maid persona is ultimately shown to be a ruse, with even her name likely being false. She speaks to her will-be murderer in her true American accent and following her demise, Wadsworth forces several of the guests to reveal their past relations with her. A conniving seductress, Yvette had been schtupping Mrs. White's husband, selling Mr. Boddy information on her lover's work as a nuclear physicist and then White's involvement with her husbands death after she had discovered the affair. While working as a call girl for Miss Scarlet, she slept with Colonel Mustard and possibly obtained secret military information from him. At the least, she informed Mr. Boddy about Miss Scarlet's business and provided photos of her illicit affair with Col. Mustard to blackmail them both. The Cop, who had been bribed by Scarlet to turn a blind eye to her Brothel, recognizes Yvette immediately upon arrival, with hints that Scarlet had used Yvette as an additional bribe for the unscrupulous Officer. Yvette's fate remains the same, death by strangulation with the noose in the Billiard room, with her body left strewn across the Pool Table. Though she had begged the guests earlier that she didn't want to be left alone in the Billiard room, they leave her corpse where it is with an air of indifference, her being the fourth murder of the evening. However, the exact reasons for her murder vary on each of the different endings.
YVETTE I will keep somesing warm for eem. SCARLET What did you have in mind, dear?
In ending A, Yvette remains loyal to her employer Miss Scarlet. Perhaps in an effort to remain useful to her Madame, she murders the Cook by stabbing her in the back, as well as bludgeoning Mr. Boddy in the hall. Along with Mrs. White's husband and Col. Mustard, Miss Scarlet implies that Yvette helped gather information on Professor Plum's UN contacts and Mrs. Peacock's husband's work as a Senator, perhaps sleeping with both of them as well. Yvette's attempts at getting close to Mr. Green are perhaps an attempt on getting dirt on him as well, though she fails due to Green's sexual preferences. When too many of their blackmail victims are able to recognize every inch of Yvette's curvaceous body, Miss Scarlet gives her accomplice an agonizing pink slip, strangling Yvette to keep her business of secrets safe.
SCARLET Mmmm . . . very pretty. Would you like to see these, Yvette? They might shock you . . . YVETTE No, merci. I am a lay-dee. SCARLET Oh, how do you know what kind of pictures they are if you're such a "lay-dee"?
Ending B has Yvette murdered for her past involvement with Mr. Boddy, as Mrs. Peacock is able to piece together Boddy's string of informants and silences them one by one. Mr.Boddy is not shy about showing off his intimate knowledge of the Maid and her connection to many of the other blackmail victims and informants leaves the murderous Mrs. Peacock to kill her to make sure she can't reveal anymore than her outfit already did.
WADSWORTH He was expendable, like all of you. I'm grateful to you all for disposing of my network of spies and informers. Saved me a lot of trouble. Now there's no evidence against me.
Ending C has Yvette working with the real Mr. Boddy aka Wadsworth. Like Ending A, Yvette is murdered for being more useful dead than alive, as Boddy (Wadsworth) sends the hapless Maid to unknowingly meet Mrs. White in the Billiard Room. Yvette has a brief moment to realize his betrayal before her rival wraps the noose around her windpipe, throttling Yvette in revenge for seducing her husband. Boddy (Wadsworth) confronts Mrs. White over Yvette's corpse, forcing her to confess, before revealing his dastardly plan to continue blackmailing the guests over their murdering his expendable informants.
Whatever ending, she adds an enormous amount of sex appeal, and is far more villainous and conniving than she appears. Yvette is still a disposable pawn, however, a clueless seductress used and tossed aside when more convenient. Worth noting is Yvette is the only victim killed by all three of the female guests and she had the worst death in the film- a slow strangulation, fully aware she'd been a pawn, knowing she's been tricked and will die in a skimpy Maid uniform. She made a living lying around on her back and died the same way.
YVETTE Bon decor. But it is dark upstairs, and I am frightened of ze dark. Will anyone go wiz me? PLUM I will. MUSTARD I will. GREEN No, thank you.
Yvette shows a particular interest to Mr. Green through out the night. She greets him with a seductive smile as she hands him a glass of champagne at the start of the night. Later, Yvette makes a point of looking at him and bating her eyes as asking if anyone will accompany her alone up to the dark attic. He is the only male guest to decline. When Mr. Green draws the long stick (which ironically sends him up to the attic), Yvette seems to take note and is the next to draw her match, conveniently enough the long stick to match Greens, which he is obviously less than pleased with. As the guests begin to split up, Yvette moves to hold Green's hand, which he quickly draws away from. Yvette suggests they ascend to the attic together, clutching the long match stick that paired her with Green hard as she attempts to cuddle up to him as they move up the steps. Green's look of discomfort at being pressed is comical, before he gains the better of the climb and Yvette is left exposed and is forced to drop the match to right herself. Finally, Yvette makes a point of grabbing Mr. Green's arm on their final ascent back up the stairs...which he once again stringently pull away from. This lack of interest in the fetching French Maid works in all endings, whether this is because Mr. Green is gay (like the first two endings) or a happily married FBI agent (Ending C). Yvette's reasons for this interest may be in simply Mr. Green not staring at her body and his hard to get attitude, her wishing to find another blackmail victim she can sleep with and get information on, or perhaps to confirm if he is truly gay- on orders from her employer.
Appearance[]
Yvette was the nec plus ultra (Ultimate in perfection) of downstairs maids. She was young. She was astonishingly beautiful. Yvette was not only a French maid; she was a fetishist's dream of a French maid, and she had an outfit to match: a one-piece glossy black satin Maid uniform, cut high in the thigh and low in the bosom. Her plunging neckline had a frilly white border that provided plenty of upward mobility for her ample bosom. The outfit was so tight, that it whined when she walked; every time she breathes, her breast-meat heaves up and down; and everytime she turns her body, she jiggles along with every motion. She definitely attracted attention from the male guests and disdain and jealousy from the female guests (though Scarlet may have felt the same way as the men). It was trimmed with white accents on the sleeves, bosom, with a matching white ruffled petticoat that flared the flouncy skirt outward above her thigh. Underneath her skirt were wide, starched white panties, which Yvette flashes several times throughout the night, both by accident and on purpose. There is a white apron tied in a large bow in the back that hangs halfway down the front of her black skirt and comes to a point in the center, like a remembrance of chastity. The short skirt accentuated her long slender legs dressed in dark fishnet stockings, and the seam that ran along the back of her calf was a draftsman's ecstasy of curve. A starched white lacy cap with black accents was perched absurdly atop her lustrous dirty blonde hair that was pinned up upon her head. Around her neck a single black band choker was wrapped tight, which ironically had ties to prostitution in the late 19th century. On her right ring-finger was a gold ring, which may indicate her sexual independence. Her shoes were high in the heel and tight in the toe, completing a figure that was- all in all- at once startling, grotesque, and divine. Yvette's excessively sexy costume is given purpose when it is revealed she is an American Prostitute trying to obtain secrets on the guests of the house by seducing them.
Trivia[]
- Yvette is a character in Clue on Stage, a Broadway Production by Clue's director Jonathan Lynn. In the plot of the stage production, Yvette remains an informant for Mr. Boddy, but is actually a French Maid, rather than pretending to be one. Her fate (strangled) remains the same and Mrs. White is revealed to be her murderer, with the plot largely similar to Ending C of the Movie.
- Colleen Camp beat out other actresses for the role of Yvette (including Madonna) by showing up to audition in a French maid costume.
- Colleen Camp appeared as Donna, one of the duo of Agatha and Donna in 1977 film Death Game.
- Colleen Camp appeared as the villainess Dody Rogers on the 1987 episode Crossed Up in the TV series Murder, She Wrote.
- Colleen Camp appeared as Mildred Korman in the 1990 episode Korman's Kalamity for the TV series Tales from the Crypt.
- Colleen Camp appeared as the evil Cynthia Evans in 2002's Second to Die.
- Miss Scarlet and Yvette (Ending A) are jointly ranked #100 in Eccentric Brit's Movie Villainess 101.
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