Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

The Maid (2009)

Director: Sebastián Silva

Time Out rating

Average user rating

3 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

From ‘The Servant’ to ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ to ‘The Hand that Rocks the Cradle’, powerplay between homeowners and the help has long been a film staple. Through understated, naturalistic technique, engaging, nuanced performances and assured storytelling that balances the suspenseful and the affecting, ‘The Maid’ offers a pleasingly sly, ultimately endearing take on the set-up. Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) has been with a comfortable Santiago family for more than 20 years. She is part of the clan in some ways – as longstanding emotional attachments, both positive and negative, attest – but in others remains apart, even expendable.

So when it’s suggested that an extra pair of hands around the house might be useful, Raquel’s self-preservation instincts kick in. Deadpan, handheld technique allows director Sebastián Silva to mine mundane situations for subtle hazard but also to take his story in unexpected directions, initial reticence preserving the potential for surprise. There’s a similar quality to Saavedra’s performance, whose Raquel is now downtrodden, wily and vulnerable. The result offers a fruitful ambivalence far richer than any butler-did-it cliché.

Author: Ben Walters

Time Out London Issue 2088: August 26 – September 1, 2010

Email Tweet Share

User reviews of this film

Katarzyna said...

Posted on Sep 18 2010 13:26 What a wonderful film! On the surface, not much happens in it...but at the same time happens a lot! Very tense and subtle. Haven't seen anything like that for a long time. If you liked this one, you will really appreciate 'The Servant' with Dirk Bogarde, made in 1963.

Report as inappropriate
Phil Ince said...

Posted on Aug 30 2010 22:12 What a film. What a wonderful, wonderful human film. This really is tense and infuriating as anything I can ever remember seeing for most of its run but the conclusion’s completely surprising.
I often find the modern manner of declining to loan characters articulacy unrewarding. Have you seen Turkish films which spend several minutes watching a fat woman sitting still and sweating on a beach and yet had the impression you weren’t expected merely to be repelled.
But this! About a difficult woman with some ultimately unspecified difficulty which slowly and only partially emerges. Catastrophe seems inevitable but something different comes.
See this, see this! I can’t remember the last film I saw that was as good and true.

Report as inappropriate
andy said...

Posted on Aug 28 2010 22:55 I quite enjoyed the Maid, not bad at all. Hollywood would have ruined all it's subtlety, but thankfully Sebastian Silva is far better. Shame two people wanted to do 'directors commentary' all the way through the film (I saw it at the Barbican). Seriously if you want a thoroughly good chat...hire a DVD and stay at home. Okay?

Report as inappropriate