La nana

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 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 :)

The Maid, or La Nana is a Chilean film that is hard to categorize. Raquel has served an upper class Chilean family for over twenty years, and when she becomes overwhelmed by the demands of the household, they hire another woman to help with the chores. Through a sequence of different pranks, which includes locking the helper out of the house, the assistant quits. It turns out that Raquel is territorial, and possessive of her employers.

The next prospect, an older, tougher woman is more difficult to intimidate, but the maid in charge manages to also make life unbearable for her and she gives up and leaves. Raquel believes that she is part of the family because of her many years of living with them and they, in turn, feel obligated to to take care of her.

The lead actress, Catalina Saavedra, is a plump, plain looking woman who will alternately make you feel sorry for her at one moment and then want someone to do the right thing and lock up this mentally unstable creature. She is outstanding and had me convinced that she is really nuts.

Both funny and sad, The Maid is an excellent movie.

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.

Welcome to Raquel's world. She is a maid for an upper middle class family in Santiago, Chile, that has been with them for twenty years of joyless existence. Raquel is a loner showing signs of fatigue as her work never stops. She is up and running the household for Pilar, who certainly appreciates her work, as witnessed at the beginning of the story when she gathers her clan to celebrate Raquel's birthday. Raquel gets along well with all the family members with the exception of the older daughter, who can't explain the animosity she gets from the maid. Part of the problem appears to be the way Raquel perceives the girl to be pretty and full of life, while hers is going away fast. Other than being with this family, she has no life of her own.

Pilar decides to hire someone else to help Raquel with her demanding job. She is still going to be in charge, but that way, Pilar figures, it will give the maid some badly needed rest. Unfortunately, Raquel clashes with two of the prospective would-be-helpers, a young Peruvian girl, and an older woman, who tells Raquel not to love these people too much because they really don't appreciate what she does for the family. In both cases, Raquel ends up locking them out of the house and they get fed up. When Lucy, the third assistant, is hired, she proves to be a perfect foil to Raquel's objections. Lucy is a no-nonsense woman who really sees Raquel for what she; Lucy realizes that under the tough exterior, there is a good person waiting to emerge with the right kind of approach. Soon they end up striking a good working relationship and even traveling for the Christmas holidays to Lucy's parents home in the country.

Sebastian Silva, co-wrote and directed this Chilean film that has proved to be a favorite in the festivals where it has been shown. The film works because Mr. Silva knows well the intricacies of life with a housekeeper, something that in other countries is a rarity. The director had worked with some of the actors in the cast in his first film "La vida me mata". He shoots the film using a lot of close ups that shows plainly the emotions going on with the characters he presents us.

The best thing in the film is Catalina Saavedra, who as Raquel runs away with the picture. She is charismatic and even her mean spirited attitude toward the others can be explained in the way she measures herself against the rest of the family. Claudia Celedon has some good moments as Pilar, the lady of the house. Mariana Oyola is also effective as Lucy, the only one that really understood what the trouble was with Raquel.

An enjoyable film thanks to Mr. Silva and Ms. Saavedra.