The Housemaid Movie Review:

Corruption, violence or terrorism are the most discussed morally deviant acts and often feature as the burning issue in prime time news debates. Rightly so. But there are legal strictures, both punitive and preventive, that can be applied against these criminal activities. And then there are some discomfiting deeds, such as gaslighting, manipulating social circles, and putting up a facade of normalcy, which cannot always be measured using legal metrics, making them more or at least equally dangerous to other tangible acts of crime. Paul Feig’s The Housemaid unsettles by exposing how far people are willing to sink to safeguard their public image and sustain the fiction of a happy family.

The Housemaid begins with Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney), a murder convict whose sentence has been commuted to 10 years from 15, on account of good behaviour. She, like many others in the film and real life, wants to be accepted by the civil society as a 'normal person'. Millie wears a pair of spectacles to be perceived as a 'serious person' and also to mask her insecurities in her interview to be a maid at the Winchesters'. Her potential employer, Nina Winchester (a terrific Amanda Seyfried), presents herself as a well-respected woman in high society, whose strained smile barely conceals the rot beneath. Millie lands the job, which she views as her entry ticket back into the 'normal world,' only to realise that the word 'normal' is biased and arbitrary in a not-so-pleasant way.

Upon its US premiere, parallels were drawn between this film and the 1992 film The Hand That Rocks The Cradle for their campy sensationalism and defying the idea of home, culturally coded as a safe place. The characterisation of Millie, who is forced to fend for herself, is amusing as she carries a striking semblance to Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) of The Innocents (1961). They both find comfort in providing care and enjoy the domestic bliss, and the place they step into turns care into contagion. The baffling similarities extend to how the notion of a home and family of the protagonists in both films gradually dismantle. However, Giddens' helplessness is replaced by grit in Millie, making The Housemaid a largely thrilling and entertaining experience. This helps us in empathising more with her. Millie can scan people and see them for who they are almost all the time, but she cannot act on it, as it risks her breaching the release condition. This device pretty much reflects the unfair expectations of society demanding silence on numerous evils in the name of tradition and culture, which, if questioned, you risk alienating yourself from the 'normal people'.  

Director: Paul Feig

Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, Brandon Sklenar

Operating mostly as a chamber thriller, the character eccentricities of everyone, including the little Indiana Elle's Cecelia "Cece," keep the drama engaging. Some of the many twists in the film tip their hand early, but that in no way spoils the overall experience. Writing brilliance radiates in the spaces where, like Millie, we too are confused whether to suspect the openly hysterical Nina or her overcompensating 'nice' husband Andrew, played by a fantastic Brandon Sklenar. Feig introduces innovation in the way he handled romance in the film. Situations that kept causing sexual tension between Millie, who was in solitary confinement from her mid-teens to mid-20s, and Andrew, who was having a hard time with his ill wife, were never forced. The scenes that gradually build a steamy chemistry between the two, simultaneously also cause an eerie sense. The Do-I-Do-It-Do-I-Not dilemma between the two worked so well. Beyond cheap thrills, these scenes also helped with the messaging of the film. Harmless lines like, 'I want as many children as a football team' with disregard to the desire of the spouse, unpack the sweetly coated misogyny towards the end of the film.

The Housemaid falls flat in its simplistic flashback reveals. There are two reveals, and both are made through basic expositions. The screenplay's pacing takes a hit as both the expositions are placed closely and are placed during an excessively tense and dramatic development in the present. We get restless to come back to the present scenario. Though the flashbacks were needed to dispel ambiguity on who stands where in the proceedings, the obsolete device and poor placement render the flashback scenes ineffective. But better late than never, the film cuts to the chase and gets to its meat. As we feel that the climax is becoming longer, another message is conveyed through the smart writing choices, which involve rubbishing victim's a and emphasising the importance of sometimes intervening in familial matters, rather than moving away and saying, "They can handle this."

Going back to the film's comparison to The Innocents, with a paranormal activity, at least you know what you are fighting against, which is any day better than having to deal with a smiling person, who you aren't aware is also a schemer. The Housemaid is brave and boggling all at the same time in its attempt at calling out the false notion of security, safety and comfort, supported by some brilliant performances. The film's noble purpose of conveying that family can also extend beyond home, and sometimes the term can be a misnomer to describe people you are forced to put up with inside a building, is beautifully summed when Cece, who remains perpetually grumpy, finally smiles and says, 'We should take Millie with us."