The Housemaid: movie review
The marvelous actress Jeon Do-yeon is the star of “The Housemaid,” a remake by director Im Sang-soo of a classic 50-year-old Korean thriller.
Hired as a nanny by a wealthy scion (Lee Jung-jae) and his pregnant, prissy wife (Seo Woo), Eun-yi is quickly set upon by the master of the house for sexual favors.
He’s a martinet accustomed from birth to having his own way, and the new nanny comes with the territory.
She isn’t altogether displeased but, when the wife finds out what’s going on, the film turns into an intricate game of sexual warfare and class warfare and just plain warfare.
It’s a deliciously perverse melodrama, though sometime I would love to sit down with the director and have him explain what on earth the film’s disconcertingly loopy final scene is all about.
Grade: A- (Unrated)
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