By Adapting a successful and popular novel to the big screen can be a challenging endeavor. Readers often have very strong opinions about how the characters should look and act and the novel often allows for dimensions and storylines that cannot be fit into two hours of screen time.
Fortunately, “The Housemaid” does not suffer from this obstacle and Freida McFadden’s story is given a strong adaptation.
The story involves a young girl named Millie (Sydney Sweeney), who is attempting to rebuild her life following a prison term. She manages to get a job as a live-in Housemaid with a wealthy family under the instructions of Nina (Amanda Seyfried).
Millie quickly learns that all is not as it seems as Nina is prone to bouts of extreme fits and outrage and often blames Millie for things she had nothing to do with or assigns her to do tasks and quickly contradicts her by refusing to admit she had tasked her with.
Nina’s husband Andrew (Brendon Sklenar) sticks up for Millie, which only enrages Nina more and she is clearly threatened by the younger and attractive Millie and believes that her husband is drawn to her.
As time unfolds, Nina becomes even darker which unleashes aspects of Millie and a series of events which takes some very dark and dramatic twists and turns.
I had not read the book going in and absolutely enjoyed the movie from start to finish even when I predicted a big twist early in the film. The performances were solid and the mix of erotic and dark drama were well balanced and engaging.
I read a summary of the book after the screening and noted that aspects of the final act did differ from the book and appeared to have been given the Hollywood glam up in order to make it more dramatic.
Director Paul Feig has shown he can do more than his usual comedic films and has crafted a deeply engaging film that already has me anticipating the adaptations of the next two books. The leads are fantastic and both give career-defining performances, which makes this film one not to miss and one of the best films of the year.
4 stars out of 5
