The Housemaid review: Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried helm a thrilling tale that keeps you guessing till the end!

Based on Frieda McFadden’s best selling novel, The Housemaid is a story about power and deception that’ll make you feel uneasy and hooked to your screens at the same time!

The Housemaid review: When a movie’s first frame is a huge mansion and a girl driving up to it, we as audiences are already trained enough to know it is not going to end well for her. The life in that house feels too good to be true and so do the owners living in it. We’re also smart enough to know that marriage is just a performance here and there is something that these aesthetic interiors are hiding from us. But Paul Feig takes this familiar trope and turns it into a story that slowly reveals its true motives and one that we have never seen before!

The film centers around Millie (Sydney Sweeney) who is fresh out of prison and desperately in need of a job. Her situation is such that she learns to adapt, observe and be quick on her feet. When she goes to the Winchester family’s big mansion for a live-in housemaid position, she already knows that job is too good to be hers. Convinced that she is never getting a call back from the oh-so pleasant owner, Nina (Amanda Seyfried), she starts thinking what could be the next best thing for her. She knows one background check is going to cancel her out, but much to her surprise, and ours, she is accepted for the position. That is the moment your wheels start churning; what could possibly be wrong with this family? Doesn’t the owner seem way too sweet to her? Why would they accept someone like her in one go? There’s way too much to unpack!

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As Millie settles in, she is given the creepy room up in the attic with just one window that can’t even be opened. But given her situation, she is grateful for what she can get. As the story progresses further, we see Nina turning into someone completely different from what she was on day one. She is no longer the sweet owner who made sure you were comfortable. She was a lying, conniving, batshit crazy woman who is set to deliberately make things difficult for her housemaid. But Millie isn’t one to break down or react. She bites her tongue and deals the cards she is thrown because she needs this job more than she can admit it and she knows that. Nina’s daughter, Cece (Indiana Elle) also seems constantly bitter towards Millie. The gardener, Enzo(Michele Morrone) gives Millie eerie looks throughout the film. Making Andrew(Brandon Sklenar), Nina’s husband, the only normal person around the house. He is seemingly kind towards Millie and their conversations have sexual tension in abundance. 

The characters keep their secrets for as long as they can. As a viewer, you by default try to state the obvious that’s about to happen. But when the story takes you in a completely different direction than what you expected, you are caught off guard and that’s the highlight of The Housemaid. It’s a slow-burner, filled with plot twists, dark tale of deception. The film also gives up no opportunity to highlight Sydney Sweeney’s sex appeal but also keeps Millie mysterious because of her past. The real stand-out for me though was Amanda Seyfried. She had my eyes on her since the get-go. The sudden shift in facial expressions, the craziness in her eyes and a back story that leaves you flabbergasted, she owns this film through and through!

The Housemaid shows the perspective of two women trying to control a situation in their own ways. Not only does it stay true to the book, but makes for a rather compelling thriller to watch on-screen after a long time!

The Housemaid is currently playing at a theatre near you!

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