The Housemaid ending explained: Does it differ from the book?
A house isn't always a home – especially in The Housemaid. Let's break down that twist.
*Warning: Full spoilers for The Housemaid ahead*
The film adaptation of Freida McFadden's best-selling novel The Housemaid has finally landed in cinemas – and with a star-studded cast including Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney, and a four-star review from RadioTimes.com ourselves, it's safe to say anticipation for the psychological thriller has been high.
Following the events after ex-con Millie Calloway (Sweeney) is hired to work as a live-in housemaid for Nina Winchester (Seyfried) and her husband Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), it soon becomes clear that something isn't quite right in the Winchester home.
So, what's really been going on in that house? And does Millie make it out alive?
Read on for your full breakdown of the intense final scenes of The Housemaid – but be warned, non-book readers, for there are major spoilers ahead.
The Housemaid ending explained
Across the entire first half of The Housemaid, we’re led to believe that Nina Winchester is at least slightly unhinged – from destroying her own kitchen to forgetting entire conversations, and generally making Millie Calloway’s new life hell. By the time Andrew decides he wants to leave her for Millie, we’ve also learned that she spent time in a psychiatric hospital for attempting to drown her own daughter.
So – what’s really going on with Nina? Is she unstable? Does she just despise Millie for coming in and replacing her role in Andrew’s life?
No. Of course not!
In reality, Nina is a survivor – and a very good actress. She’s been faking everything – the tantrums, the short-term memory, the lot. And following a spectacular screaming-that-turns-into-laughing scene (an elite cinematic trope) from Amanda Seyfried, Nina drives to a hotel, pops open a bottle of champagne and launches into a monologue that reveals the entire truth behind her facade.
As it turns out, Andrew Winchester isn’t such a nice guy after all (to be honest, that became pretty obvious when he left his wife after five minutes for the girl she hired to work for them) – in fact, he's far from it.
Soon after Nina married Andrew, when Cecelia was just a baby, Andrew’s perfect smile started to turn sinister. What first started as married bliss quickly turned terrifying when Andrew started to lock Nina in the attic for days on end for taking advantage of the things he considered to be “privileges” – like failing to maintain her perfect blonde roots. “He loves blondes,” you’ll remember Andrew’s mother Evelyn remarking earlier on in the film.
When Nina finally escaped the attic and tried to leave Andrew, he drugged her, called the police and staged the scene to look like Nina attempted to drown her daughter and then tried to take her own life by overdosing. Realising that nobody would believe her pleas for help, Nina, therefore, purposefully engineered the entire plot so she and her daughter could be free of her evil husband – and hired her new housemaid to be her replacement.
So, what does all of this mean for Millie?
Well, after accompanying Andrew to dinner and a Broadway play (with a Lana Del Rey Cinnamon Girl needle drop, of course) and later sleeping with him – Millie thinks she’s won the domestic lottery; moving from ex-con to rich housewife in a matter of weeks. But her new life quickly collapses, and after accidentally smashing a couple of plates from Evelyn’s beloved china set, Millie finds herself locked in the attic, just as Nina had done all those times before.
From outside the door, Andrew instructs Millie to use these china shards to cut 21 lines into her stomach. And, after hours of pleading and even more hours without food, she eventually gives in. When Andrew comes to release her, a bloodied Millie overpowers him, stabs him in the neck and locks him in the room.
It’s then that Millie decides to play a little game of her own. She slides a pair of pliers under the door and instructs Andrew to pull out his front tooth – which, excruciatingly, he does (props to the sound design team for that moment, honestly).
As for where Nina is during all of this, she’s busy planning her escape to California with Cecelia. The two are sat in a diner preparing their new life when Cece says something that has Nina feeling guilty – “What about Millie?”
With that, Nina returns to the Winchester house and rushes straight up to the attic to rescue Millie, not realising that Andrew is actually the one locked inside the room. Andrew attacks Nina and Millie, apparently causing Millie to flee, before he has a showdown with his wife right above the spiral staircase. Just as Andrew is about to kill Nina, Millie reappears and pushes him over the edge of the staircase, killing him.
Nina lies to the police, saying Andrew died in an accident changing a lightbulb, and, despite the inconsistencies in her story and Andrew’s missing tooth, the policewoman (who reveals herself to be the sister of Andrew’s previous fiancée) chooses to sweep everything under the rug.
After Andrew’s funeral, Nina and Cecelia move to California, and Millie attends an interview for a second housemaid job, where a new housewife with bruises on her wrists says that Nina recommended her.
“She said you’d be able to help,” the woman says, picking up a knife.
And fingers crossed we’ll get a sequel – because I for one would love to see exactly what “help” Millie can offer up next.
Is the ending of The Housemaid film different to the book?
Yes – and no.
Much of the storyline is the same, with Nina revealed to have been lying about her instability and having constructed the whole story to save herself. However, there are some differences in the climax.
In the book, Andrew does not instruct Millie to cut herself with the shards of china – instead, he tells her to balance multiple heavy books on her stomach for several hours.
Millie’s retaliation is also stronger, as in the book she forces Andrew to pull out four of his own teeth, not just one.
The events of Andrew’s death also largely differ between the two mediums. In the book, instead of being pushed from the staircase, Andrew dies of dehydration in the attic as a direct result of Millie’s actions and does not have a final, cinematic showdown with Nina.
The film also reduces the role of Enzo the groundskeeper, who in the book had an intimate relationship with Nina and had a larger part in the events leading up to Nina’s plan. This change allowed for a closer bond between Millie and Nina to be developed in the film’s final act.
Despite these tweaks to the source material, though, The Housemaid is still an extremely faithful adaptation of Freida McFadden’s bestselling novel – and, crucially, is a mega fun watch.
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The Housemaid is now showing in cinemas.
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Authors
Chezelle Bingham is a Sub-Editor for Radio Times. She previously worked on Disney magazines as a Writer, for 6 pre-school and primary titles. Alongside her prior work in writing, she possesses a BA in English Literature and Language.
