The Housemaid (2010) is a complete reimagining of the original, The Housemaid, which was made in 1960, and I did not see the original before watching the remake. A naïve city girl takes a job as an au pair for a wealthy family, and her presence exposes the casual cruelty of this family. It has the visual tone and dark sexual atmosphere of most South Korean films made today. While the actual story is psychologically shocking, and the denouement may be sensational, it is fairly tame for a South Korean film and may be a helpful way for you to gauge whether you are prepared to delve further into that regions’ most notable films.
I watch quite a few South Korean films, but I found myself disoriented during the opening scenes, which take place on a crowded, bustling city street, but also focuses on the floors above it. Because I am not yet able to recognize who is the movie star and who is an ordinary person, I could not tell who to focus on or how significant certain events would be to the broader story. I actually rewatched the opening scenes after finishing the film. These initial scenes ground the film in our world and act as a harbinger of future events. The Housemaid (2010) suggests a cold world that drives people mad, but that madness only changes those who witness or experience it, not the broader landscape and not for long.
The Housemaid (2010) is as concerned about financial inequality and exploitation and its effect on the soul of South Korea as Train to Busan, but uses the intimacy of one household as a microcosm for this fear and adds issues of gender inequality into the mix. It is a household of women with one master. Empathy is disproportionate to prosperity, but that is not immediately obvious at the beginning of the film. When the film narrows its focus on the household, everything seems perfect and is stylized even if it is emotionally distant, but everyone has its place and serves a function. People, even children, do not live simply to exist or to be loved. Once a person no longer fits her role, that person must be put in her place or removed, but not without the permission of those above you. When the child explains her motives for good behavior and seems more world-weary than the joyous and childlike au pair, the scene reveals that she basically raised herself. This world feels more like a plantation in the antebellum South or a mafia stronghold than a master of the universe…or does it (shudder)?
The big surprise is how characters react to the slight change in the household dynamic, particularly the long-time maid who worked for the wife since she was a child and hired the au pair. Yeo-jeong Yoon plays the senior member of the household staff, and I wanted to know everything about her character. I am going to need the mother in law, played by Ji-Young Park, who is the most beautiful woman in the film, to enter the pantheon of all time memorable characters.
The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world in The Housemaid (2010), but she has to wait patiently and make sure there is only one. I was curious about how the remake measured up to the original, but they are two completely different stories with the same title and different societal anxieties. A woman is only as powerful as her relation to a man, but society is only as good as the man who wields the power. What makes The Housemaid (2010) chilling is that everyone, including the titular character, rarely thinks realistically of practical consequences and acts ruthlessly in action and/or intent at some point. If you want something, get it.
For me, the crap really hit the fan when the senior member of the staff and the kid can see what is coming. These are people who are not quite numb to this world although they have existed within it most or all of their lives. There are limits and morality in this world, but they don’t matter. This is why the beginning is important. It is easy to forget that this household exists within a broader world that we can relate to. The filmmaker does not just want us to dismiss it as a fictional story, but reflect on what was the story behind the initial scene. We will never know, but we can begin to guess and surmise that the au pair should never have left the bosom of her friend and their cramped quarters. There are monsters out there, and they are people. They will try to recruit you.
People characterize The Housemaid (2010) as a revenge film. The titular character wants to matter and be remembered, not discarded. She does succeed in being memorable, but I do think that it is odd, at least from an American cultural standpoint, to think of this as a successful act of revenge because of how she does it. It sounds like a child’s fantasy of how others will feel. If the child does x, then you will be sorry. Will that person be sorry?
The Housemaid (2010) is a psychologically disturbing parable about the casual cruelty of class dynamics in South Korean society and its effect on women. Do you empathize with your oppressor or will sisterhood win? You already know the answer.