The Maid offers up a pretty good viewing experience. It didn’t wow me as much as it did the film critics, but it definitely had some strong features. Here’s the plot: A 40ish-year-old maid, Raquel, has spent more than 20 years serving an upscale Chilean family, and is cranky, mean, and beset with health problems. She torments each of the assistants hired to help her, forcing them to leave. The head of the household is unable to fire her, presumably out of loyalty, and the situation is unraveling more each day. Finally another maid is hired, with whom Raquel has a certain game-changing experience, and voila.
Catalina Saavedra plays Raquel, and she inhabits this character as thoroughly as the screenplay will allow. As the movie progresses, she becomes more and more villainous–reminiscent, although a milder version, of Kathy Bates’ character in Misery. A lot of dramatic tension springs from her portrait of this spiteful and mean-spirited spinster, whose only life has been this family. I, for one, prayed for her demise for a good part of the film. The supporting cast–the family members, the other maids–do a fine job as well. An especially notable performance is that of Mariana Loyola, who plays the last maid, Lucy. With her entrance, The Maid became a film of much greater substance and significance.
Okay, so here are my gripes. I already alluded to the screenplay. Sebastián Silva’s sophomore effort as both writer and director did not elevate this movie to all it could have been. The viewer is given almost no back-story on Raquel. We really don’t know why she is the way she is. We could conclude that the movie is, in part, a biting jab at the class culture of Chile, but this doesn’t seem to fully explain some of her heinous actions. We know little of Raquel’s past, and this hurts the character development. The other problem I had with the film was the lack of complexity in Raquel’s character. I don’t need to be hit over the head with one aspect of a personality. Okay, stop, please, I get it. I much prefer the beauty and realism of a persona’s make-up that is multi-dimensional. Certain exceptions to this rule do occur, such as the Wicked Witch of the West, but in The Maid, let’s see a little more depth, more subtlety.
These complaints aside, The Maid is still worth viewing. Another somewhat recent “maid” film is the Argentinean Live-in Maid, about a longtime maid and the woman she works for. This one was significantly more enjoyable for me. (Live-in Maid scored 100% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, by the way). See them both and you decide. – [DVD]
Drama
Unrated
DVD Release Date: 6/22/10
[...] THE MAID [...]