The Housemaid may not be a great thriller, but it hosts enough plot twists to sustain interest while offering a lush mixture of sexual and psychological maneuvering.
Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney team as a wealthy woman and her housemaid Millie, a woman hired to keep Seyfried's Nina's NewYork manse in shape and care for her bratty young daughter (Indiana Elle).
No fair telling more, but Seyfried's Nina may have more in mind than benefiting from some help around the house.
As for Millie, she’s on parole from a sentence for murder. She needs the job lest she be returned to the slammer. The more abusive Nina becomes -- and she's very good at it -- the more trapped her live-in housekeeper feels.
Brandon Sklenar portrays Andrew, Nina’s hunky, empathetic husband, a guy who seems to have become rich without breaking a sweat. Andrew, who might have fallen into the movie from a soap opera, stands up for Millie when Nina’s torments reach intolerable levels.
Previously homeless and in need of a safe heaven, Millie falls hard for him.
This could be a big year for Seyfried, whose performance in The Testament of Ann Lee, due on Christmas, probably will win her an Oscar nomination. Sweeney was better in Christy, the story of a woman who made boxing history, but her performance in Housemaid hits enough of the right notes.
Although she doesn't have a big role, a severely coifed Elizabeth Perkins impresses as Andrew’s bitchy mother.
Based on a novel by Freida McFadden, The Housemaid might be another two hour and 11-minute movie that could have hit harder at an hour-and-a-half. But director Paul Feig (A Simple Favor) knows how to manipulate our sympathies, and Seyfried’s performance adds elevated vigor.
Some of the movie’s violence and its over-cooked sex scenes earn it a well-deserved "R" rating. A grisly scene involving a tooth adds a talking point that may make you flinch.
Inspired trash? Not really, but Housemaid earns additional points for glamor and unabashed guile.
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