- Director: Paul Feig
- Screenplay: Rebecca Sonnenshine
- Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, Brandon Sklenar
- Cinematography: John Schwartzman
- Editing: Brent White
- Score: Theodore Shapiro
- Genre: Psychological thriller
- Runtime: 131 minutes
A young woman, Millie (Sydney Sweeney, her with the ‘good jeans’) is hired by a rich family to be a live-in housemaid. The mother, Nina (Amanda Seyfried), is all sweetness and light upon their initial meeting. Her demeanour flips just a couple of days later; she’s impudent and challenges Millie by putting her in double binds. Her husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar) is quite the catch: charming and handsome – he looks like a hero for staying with his wife amid her deteriorating mental state. He’s also the one with the money.
Not a lot of actual cleaning is done, focusing more on the sexual tension between Millie and Andrew and Nina’s fluctuating moods. You can probably see where this is heading. Or can you?
‘The Housemaid‘ turns the ‘psycho-biddy’ subgenre on its head. It’s ridiculous to describe it using that term – Amanda Seyfried, the older of the two actresses, is only 40 years of age. In this world of opulence and splendour where one’s appearance takes precedence over anything else, perhaps Nina feels threatened by the decade-younger, buxom, blonde Millie entering the scene as the former’s marriage appears to be crumbling. Don’t expect the pair to be pitted against each other though.
What follows is gripping up to a point. The execution of the film’s last third is weaker. Momentum is lost during the sex scenes featuring Andrew and Millie, gaining steam in another sense of the word. Sweeney, facing the social media backlash of that American Eagle advert, can’t be criticised for her acting ability. She’s competent, but Seyfried is even better with her performance of a psychotic housewife.
Not to be swept under the rug, yet not a clean sweep either.
My rating: 6 / 10
SilverScreen 