La Nana - Die Perle

La nana Is a nice drama movie about the life and also the internal changes of a housekeeper in a wealthy sector of the capital of Chile, Santiago.

It may be just a small history of a small piece of the Chilean culture, but definitely makes point in showing what, for us Chileans, is kind of a rare phenomenon: the way of having the housekeeper living in your own house, just like an individual member of your family. Normally, all the people here employs a maid but just for a some days a week, just to clean or cook, but there is also an large amount of wealthy families who employs these women (they always are) 24hr and 365 days the year. Anyway, is so special this "contract" that these workers become part of the family, and interact with the rest just like any brother, sister, aunt, or even parent.

I think this relationship is perfectly showed in this movie and also adds something it may be common as well and is about the simplistic life of Raquel, because she really doesn't have any other thing to do besides her work.

I recommend this movie also because is a very well directed one; the drama mixed with occasional comedy just do a good job carrying the whole history. It's very absorbent :)

This was one of the movies we saw at Sundance 2009. We found it to be an interesting portrayal of the relationship between a live-in maid and "her" family. The family portrayed was from Chile, and reflected the writer/director's actual family.

The maid shown in this film truly runs the household and has a strange power over the family. She knows what happens to everyone and how to sabotage them if need be. She has a love/hate relationship with most members of the family, some of it closer to hate more often than not. She also will not allow another maid to share "her" household, until she meets a certain someone. Since this is a realistic portrayal of Chilean family life, we found it fascinating to watch. Good job to all of the actors!

La Nana (The Maid) was written and directed by Sebastiān Silva, and tells the story of a live-in maid working for an affluent Chilean family. The movie opens with Racquel (Catalina Saavedra) sitting alone in the kitchen eating a basic meal; whilst the family she works for dine in much more pleasant surroundings. After giving this first impression of an oppressed servant, Silva then gradually reveals the much more complex relationships which are at play, and Racquel, who has worked for the family for twenty-three years, is shown as more of a troubled member of the family than an employee. As the tagline says, "she's more or less family".

Racquel has no life outside of the family home where she has worked for so long, and is suffering a kind of mid-life crisis, causing her to become ill and clash with the family. The family try to help her by bringing in extra staff, which leads to some funny moments as she tries desperately to cling on to her position at the centre of the household. Eventually she makes a friend, begins to get a life outside the home, and disaster is averted.

The direction and cinematography are wonderful here; feeling at times more like documentary than fiction. Catalina Saavedra is utterly convincing in the lead role, and is well supported by all. There's very little music in this movie, but there is a theme song call AyAyAyAy which is entirely addictive. This is definitely worth a watch!

As a child growing up with a parent in the Domestic Service Industry, this movie was very touching and comical at the same time. So much of what happens when the family is not around and the house staff dynamics are well portrayed here. The difference is the cultural nuances that made this film so great. Some of subjects areas caught on film would never really be seen in North America Cinema.

The family dynamics portrayed in the film is also very interesting. The movie has some documentary style camera angles but it is very much a look in at one persons life.

I recommend this movie.

I just saw this at the Sydney Film Festival and enjoyed it very much. An up close and personal drama with nice comic moments about a live in housekeeper who works for wealthy family in Santiago. Catalina Saavedra in the lead role delivers a very strong performance as the shy and emotionally distant maid who literally doesn't have a life besides her role within the house.

There are some really fine scenes throughout this film as we slowly get to know the family and obviously Raquel the maid. I liked the fact that the family did not treat her like dirt and knew her value to the household.

A small character driven film with a warm heart and realistic touches. It was also nice to see the Director and Lead Actress (Sebastian Silva and Catalina Saavedra) live after the screening for Q & A's with the appreciative audience.