The Maid

  • 15
  • Sebastián Silva (2009)
  • Chil / Mex (SUB)
  • 92 min
Film Review
Reviewed By
4 out of 5

Sebastián Silva's second feature is an exceptional study of the emotional investment that domestics make in the families they serve. After 23 years of discreet devotion to the bourgeois Valdes family, Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) begins to fear that she's being taken for granted. She resists all attempts at lightening her workload and deliberately sets out to humiliate two assistants hired to help her. But the arrival of the resilient Lucy (Mariana Loyola) has a more transformative effect. Saavedra is mesmerising as she shifts from subservient to scheming, with Silva's delicate touch ensuring that she remains sympathetic, even at her most comically cruel. With Sergio Armstrong's camera gliding through the town house that the maid is so desperate to retain as her domain, this is a poignant, plausible and impeccably controlled piece.

Plot Summary

Drama starring Catalina Saavedra. Raquel has served the Valdes family for 23 years, but they begin to suspect that she is increasingly unhappy in her role. Extra staff are taken on to help with her duties, but this only makes Raquel feel like she is being replaced, so she determines to upset the household any way she can.

Cast and crew

Cast

Raquel
Catalina Saavedra
Pilar
Claudia Celedón
Mundo
Alejandro Goic
Camila
Andrea García-Huidobro
Lucy
Mariana Loyola
Lucas
Agustín Silva
Gabriel
Sebastián La Rivera
Mercedes
Mercedes Villanueva
Sonia
Anita Reeves

Crew

Director
Sebastián Silva

Other Information

Language: 
Spanish +subtitles
Colour
Theatrical distributor: 
Artificial Eye
Guidance: 
Contains swearing and nudity.
Available on DVD
Released 27 Aug 2010
Certificate 15
Distributor:
Artificial Eye Film Co. Ltd
Categories
Drama

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