The Housemaid: A glossy and satisfying psychological thriller

The Housemaid is a slippery and satisfying psychological thriller. It makes sense to state this upfront because you don’t want to say too much more about this twisty tale, based on the 2022 bestseller by Freida McFadden, lest you spoil its many surprises and switch-back narrative turns.

There are a couple of movies released in the past two years that The Housemaid can sit happily alongside – as they pair truly disturbing actions with a cathartic turning of the tables – but even mentioning their names could be enough of a giveaway where this unpredictable mystery is heading.

The Housemaid centres on Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney), a young woman with a complicated past, who is just trying to get by.

Desperate for work, Millie thinks her fortunes may have finally changed when wealthy Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried) offers her a job as a live-in housemaid in the picture-perfect home Nina shares with her sullen daughter Cecelia (Indiana Elle) and dashing husband Andrew (Brandon Sklenar). The shoe drops swiftly for Millie, however, as Nina’s erratic and increasingly cruel behaviour opens a door to dark truths behind the glossy facade that the Winchesters present to the world.

Actually, there is another film that feels safe to mention alongside The Housemaid: A Simple Favour, starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively. The Housemaid’s helmer, Paul Feig, directed that performance-driven thriller too, although The Housemaid is arguably a sexier and tonally more serious film.

That said, it nevertheless calls to mind those lurid genre entries of the Eighties and Nineties. Think Single White Female or Wild Things. If you’ve been missing that kind of increasingly unhinged thriller from yesteryear – or even something more recent, like Gone Girl – The Housemaid is a throwback return to the same entertainment principles housed in shock and sauciness.

In terms of the acting, Sweeney does good work in The Housemaid, making a likeable protagonist, although audiences have seen her play this type of character before in Immaculate.

Millie is subdued in this world of power and privilege, well aware of her tenuous servant’s position, but she’s also smart and resourceful, capable of decisive action when needed.

The film’s standout, though, is Seyfried. Characters walk on eggshells around Nina, and audiences soon find themselves similarly holding their breath every time she appears on screen. And yet Nina remains a sympathetic figure, psychologically worn ragged as she is forced into the role of a beautiful doll trapped in a similarly beautiful but soulless home.

The Housemaid does suffer from a clunky reliance on coincidences and contrivances to manoeuvre its pieces into place for a finale that gives audiences a crowd-pleasing resolution. Still, there’s no question that the film delivers on the emotional front, and offers its leads a chance to demonstrate performative depth that many viewers might have overlooked based on the actors’ gorgeous exteriors. DM

The Housemaid is in South African cinemas. This review was first published on Pfangirl.