Review: The Housemaid

Directed by: Paul Feig

Written by: Rebecca Sonnenshine

Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, Brandon Sklenar, Michele Morrone, Elizabeth Perkins

Rating: [3.5/5]

When in desperate times, one can put up with so much more than they realize because of those circumstances. We see this all the time with employment, where our place of work not only provides the funds for individuals to afford shelter, food, health insurance, but also the ability to just live a free life. This will keep individuals in terrible situations, as see the predicament our lead character has discovered in The Housemaid, where hostile workplace environment receives a whole new definition. 

Living out of her car and desperately needing a job to maintain her good standing on parole, Millie (Sydney Sweeney) gleefully accepts the job as a live-in nanny for the Winchester family led by Nina (Amanda Seyfried). The job mostly entails cleaning, cooking, and essentially everything the family may need. What starts as a nice gig soon turns into a nightmare job as Nina proves incredibly erratic, bordering on abusive towards Millie for no apparent reason. 

Heading into watching the Housemaid, I came in with relatively high expectations given the praise my wife has heaped on the book this feature adapts. Add in the Paul Feig as a director, Amanda Seyfried starring in what appears as an unhinged character, and it promised to deliver something entertaining. Thankfully, the end product delivers just that in how it establishes the setting and the characters in a tale that gets incredibly dark the more we learn about the intentions of all the players involved. Going into this film as blind as possible will deliver the best of this story, so I will remain cognizant of details as this review continues. 

The initial puzzle to uncover in this feature lies in what intentions Nina Winchester has bringing in Millie as a housemaid. As Millie points out in one of her voiceovers, she has doubt as to why Nina would hire her after one background check. Nina certainly has the resources to run a thorough background check, which makes it a bit perplexing for Millie when she receives the call offering her employment. Definitely a great opportunity for her, given she’s living out of her car and must maintain steady employment or she’ll return to jail. The perfect situation for her until she begins, and Nina proves herself as one of the worst bosses one could possibly have. It gives the appearance Nina seeks to outright sabotage Millie through some heinous and abusive gaslighting. With all of this in mind, it begs the question: Why was Millie hired? The film certainly provides the answer and the ultimate reveal will make or break the film for anyone watching it. 

Billed as a two-hander this feature puts Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney head to head as they play this game of wits that also displays their best qualities as performers. Sweeney continues to demonstrate that when displaying emotions of fear and anger, she can impress, but when her character calls for moments of levity or the script dares her to change the octave of her fairly monotone voice, it’s difficult to watch. This only gets made worse when she goes opposite of Amanda Seyfried, who absolutely devours every inch of the screen as Nina Winchester. This film asks plenty from her in the various emotions she must display as this woman with plenty of issues she must work through and she checks off every box. She does so well that it becomes evident she is acting circles around every single actor in this film and in reality, if not for her work this film would not have found the same level of success. 

Even with a fairly bloated runtime in comparison with other thrillers, The Housemaid gets a thumbs up from myself and my wife, who read the book. This film adaptation takes some wild turns and we have a good cast to bring it all to life. Paul Feig does well in balancing the difficult tone required by this film, where we oscillate from relatively comedic moments to some heart-wrenching ones. All of this comes in service of a story that continues down a dangerous spiral that intends to uncover something sinister at the core of these characters and where Millie has found herself. A good time at the movies, especially if you get the opportunity to watch this with a crowd that will react to every bad decision made by the characters and the twists and turns the narrative takes.