The Housemaid, directed by Paul (Last Christmas) Feig and adapted by Rebecca Sonnenshine from Frieda McFadden's novel, is part of a tried-and-true, psycho-thriller subgenre, where terror strikes from an unassuming setting (often involving a babysitter, neighbor or coworker, whether the person is revealed as the recipient or administrator of the inevitable torment) with slow-burn angst stretched throughout, capped by a cataclysmic climax.
The movie's effective headliners are the sexy-as-sin Sydney Sweeney as Millie Calloway, the titular servant, who just so happens to have a criminal past; Amanda Seyfried as Nina Winchester, the abrasive, Long Island resident who employees her; and Brandon Skelnar as Nina's suave, affluent husband, Andrew. To add to the flavor, Indiana Elle plays Cecella, the Winchesters' privileged daughter; Elizabeth Perkins plays Evelyn, Andrew's demanding mother; and Michele Morrone plays Enzo, the estate's enigmatic, Italian gardener.
Millie does her best to please, doing all that's required of her and then some, but it's never enough to satisfy Nina. Nina is, for all of her surface value, a variant of California's gubernatorial candidate, Katie Porter (or any number of callous and/or clueless bosses one may have encountered over the years), but what can Millie do under the stressful circumstances if she wishes to keep her lucrative job (and in the process, avoid breaking her parole)? At least, Mr. Winchester comes across as a pretty decent guy, but even there, the charm (and subsequent, sexual tension) only goes so far to mollify the trouble. Also, for Andrew's part, one soon learns that all that glitters isn't gold (pardon the cliche).
Seyfried has a tour de force playing her demented bully, and that she resembles Sweeney's Miller gives their contrasting personalities an implied, Jekyll/Hyde (two-sides-of-the-same-coin) dynamic. (The two could have portrayed sisters, in all honesty, and maybe that would have been better for the story's ultimate overlap.) In any event, one participant pulls for sympathy, while the other draws dislike, but are the extremes what they appear to be? There comes a point when things go big-time topsy-turvy, and it's a matter of whether Millie will succumb to the encroaching madness or seize some semblance of stability.
The Housemaid will be identifiable to anyone who's experienced any sort of toxic relationship, whether at home, work or wherever people congregate for whatever "casual" cause. That one may tap a ruthless chain of events is always a possibility in life, and The Housemaid epitomizes the prospect, even if on exaggerated, multiple-ending terms. Again, it's one of those tales that could happen to any of us in the wrong place at the wrong time, all due to the intrinsic monsters we feed.
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