“The Housemaid” taught me that there is always more to the story than what meets the eye, that charm and seduction can mask something far more sinister.
The film left me dumbfounded, with my jaw on the floor at every single twist and turn, despite it feeling slightly undercooked. I thought that the movie did an incredible job depicting how hard it is to escape an abusive spouse and how it can fundamentally change someone.
You never truly know what happens behind closed doors.
Nina, played by Amanda Seyfried, delivered a phenomenal performance. She puts on a mean girl’s smile, teary-eyed sobs and unblinking rage like I’ve never seen before, often outshining Sydney Sweeney, who plays Millie.
Sweeney’s line delivery was bleak and felt flat, and the only time I was slightly convinced of her performance was in the final scenes when we get to see a completely different side of Millie.
At the start of the film, Millie is just released from prison and on probation, desperate for a job as a condition of her release. Just when she thinks she’s down on her luck, the wealthy Winchester family hires her as a live-in housemaid.
Millie starts her job, and Nina generously offers for her to move into the small attic of the massive mansion. Nina, a seemingly nice housewife, immediately begins acting out of character once Millie moves in.
On Millie’s first day, Nina has a breakdown, accusing Millie of throwing away handwritten Parent Teacher Association notes. She completely trashes the kitchen, and her husband Andrew, played by Brendon Sklenar, is the only one able to calm her down.
As tensions escalate and Nina continues to play mind games on Millie, Andrew appears increasingly fond of the new housemaid.
Soon, Millie learns from other families and housemaids in the neighborhood that Nina has been in and out of mental institutions for years. She also learned that Nina allegedly tried to drown her child.
Andrew and Millie eventually spend a night together in New York City, and when Nina finds out, she spirals. Instead of Andrew calming her down, he kicks her out of the house and asks for a divorce.
This is the moment everything changes.
Nina leaves the house hysterical with laughter, almost relieved. Meanwhile, Millie steps into Nina’s former life, but it is not what she expected. Soon after Nina’s departure, Millie accidentally drops Andrew’s family China dishes, he tells her to bag and keep the broken pieces of the plate because he “has a plate guy.” After doing so, Andrew comes home and sees that she didn’t wash the pieces before putting them in the bag.
Angry but composed, Andrew brings Millie up to the attic, drugs her and locks her in. He says she can only come out if she cuts herself on the stomach 20 times with a piece of broken plate.
The film then flashes back to similar moments with Nina: Andrew locking her in the attic when her hair roots showed or when she made minor mistakes. This reveals that even though the story was framed as the two women opposing each other, Andrew was the villain the entire time.
It felt almost ironic for Nina to be depicted as this mentally unstable woman where people pitied Andrew, but the entire time, Andrew was the one that made her this way.
Watching the movie a second time revealed heavy foreshadowing. For example, the first time Millie entered the attic she struggled to open the door to leave, a subtle but clear sign she would later be trapped inside.
Another example comes during Nina’s tour of the house when she jokes, “Andrew says I’m going to fall on these stairs one day, might as well draw my chalk outline.” At the end of the film, Andrew falls down the stairs when Millie pushes him, landing in the shape of a chalk outline.
Andrew’s mother also plays a telling role. At his funeral his mother tells Nina that one of Andrew’s teeth were missing when he died and that she always told him if he did not take care of his teeth, he did not deserve them. These comments suggest that Andrew learned his abusive behavior from his mother. He punished Nina for showing any flaws or imperfections, a detail that hints at a cycle of control, privilege and abuse.
Although I enjoyed watching this movie and would watch it a third time, it felt underdeveloped. The beginning felt like just a straightforward drama with a crazy housewife and an affair. I wanted to see more glimpses of Andrew’s character and his mother’s influence.
But nevertheless, the film puts it into perspective that you truly cannot judge a book by its cover, and every rose has its thorns.
