I have always wanted to watch a movie where the director’s vision would outclass the source material. But as it turns out, even badly written books are better than the films based on them. The Housemaid is a perfect example of this.
Millie, played by Sydney Sweeney, is an ex-convict living out of her car and desperately searching for a decent job. By sheer chance, she interviews for the position of a housemaid at the wealthy Winchester house, where she meets a chirpy Nina Winchester, played by Amanda Syfried. As fate has it, Millie gets the job working for the Winchester family, which includes Nina’s husband, Andrew, and her daughter, Cecilia. Millie’s position as a live-in housemaid makes her privy to everything that happens in the house. Soon she realises that Nina is not the jolly, cheerful person she had presented herself to be.
The movie begins flat, remains flat, and ends flat. For a film based on a thriller novel, it barely has any thrilling moments, even during its climax. The performances are dull, the characters lack personality, and the story is predictable. By the end of the movie, I had just one question: What did this movie offer me? I suspect I will never find an answer to that.
There were a few scenes where the director, Paul Feig, wisely moved away from the book. But most of the changes in the story made it shallower. Supporting characters like Enzo and Cecilia are underused in this story. In the book, Enzo was an important character, not a random stalker with a brooding countenance. But for whatever reason, his character was left unexplored and underutilised in this movie.
I am not criticising the movie because I loved the book. No, I did not like the book either. But I believed that maybe this story would somehow feel better through the medium of cinema. Look how wrong I was! This movie may only work because of Sydney Sweeney’s star power. Not a movie I would suggest to anyone.
My final rating: