The new movie “The Housemaid” is about a young woman Millie Calloway, played by Sydney Sweeney, who is desperate and living in her car after being released from prison after 10 years for committing murder. Despite Millie’s education she had no other job options than trying to be a live in housemaid to a family Nina and Brandon Winchester , played by Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar and their daughter Cece.
The beginning of this story of both normal and predictable, but as the story moves forward we are surprised by one insane revelation after another and this movie does do a very good job at surprising the audience with unexpected twists and turns. Nina has a whole series of mental problems starting with Bipolar disorder and is prone to huge bouts of anger and rage, that also includes lying to and mentally torturing the new housemaid, Millie. Many of these scenes are over the top and disturbing, too many are hard to watch.
The conclusion of this story is a highly unusual 25% of the film, devoted to explaining the story and past events that lead up to Millie, Nina and Brandon living in the same house. In my experience, with films that need to explain what happened, are normally a major sign that this is a bad screenplay and bad movie. However, this time around, the 25% end of story explanations are well enough done that they do not destroy the ending of this movie. However, what was really going on during these two hours, is so convoluted and crazy that it all mostly makes little sense. The final conclusion is violent and even involves mental and physical torture, and the surprises at the end are almost impossible to see coming.
The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for this movie are a too high 78% with my rating, 70% and a moderate recommendation.
A Screenwriters Perspective: Current and Past Movies. 