The Housemaid

Courtesy of Lionsgate

 

Whether you love it or hate, The Housemaid is a strange beast. Directed by comedy aficionado Paul Feig and starring ‘of the previous moment’ Sydney Sweeney, in what we’ve been told is an erotic psychological thriller seems like a very odd mix. From the very off kilter tone, the very basic fronting performances, not to mention the irritating voiceovers, The Housemaid feels immediately familiar especially as the tension builds to the twist we expected all along with an underwhelming climax.

Freshly paroled Millie managed to secure a job as housemaid in the up-scale home of Nina Winchester, her husband and daughter on Long Island. Almost immediately, Nina’s erratic and antagonistic behaviour makes Millie feel uneasy. On contract, Nina’s husband Andrew is patient, calm and welcoming. But desperate to keep her job, Millie puts up with Nina. Over time Millie discovers secrets the family are trying to keep hidden until it's too late for her to escape.

This film came across throughout the marketing campaign as a slice of escapism but in fact its a straightforward low-key thriller trying to be an erotic one. The very few moments where the film tries to justify this label are anything but. There is an art to creating an erotic thriller and we haven’t seen a decent one in quite some time. But concentrating on everything else in this film, there is a pattern. The angry, rude, slightly psychotic wife of a wealthy nice guy takes on a seemingly innocent blonde to work for her. Oh I wonder what the twist will be, as there is always a twist. Set up from the start as we see Millie sleeping in her car, going to parole meeting, we know what her crime was before she even says it. The nice husband who everyone loves, we have to wait quite some time for the shoe to drop on this trope. And finally the mysterious groundkeeper handy man who, oh wait, never mind, he barely speaks and is barely on screen. So in actual fact, the biggest twist is, why did Enzo even get a character poster to himself? 

 There is some entertainment to be had, Amanda Seyfried as unhinged Nina is quite fun to watch. But the voiceovers from both Millie and Nina were really not needed. Adaptations do sometimes suffer this, just to get through inner thoughts and backstories, but there are ways to get away from this.

We have Booktok to thank for the hype around the book. Mediocre books being made into anything between complete trash and predictable (not because of adaptation) stories meant to shock and please. There are no doubt great stories out there and probably more of the same to come. The Housemaid is here to entertain, and there is a very good chance that it won’t. Going into this film expecting something new and exciting, you will definitely feel short changed. But if you’re expecting schlock you can half pay attention to, then this is one for the collection.