La nana

The Maid (2009)

In some ways this film is extraordinary. It's small, limited in its setting, and it has a slightly predictable inevitability. But it is so seeringly well acted and filmed with an honest small budget honesty, it's hard not to appreciate. It also deals with a huge issue in many countries--the use of household help, often now from other, poorer countries, and the ironies and sadness that goes with this class structure.

Catalina Saavedra is "the maid" in this, and like the leading role in the even more astonishing "The Hedgehog" we get inside this person's modest and seemingly invisible persona to really get them, or part of them, for a brief spell. It's moving--it made me cry--and revealing. It's not like we don't know that live-in maids lead an unfair, often unhappy life (which they disguise from their employers). But we aren't often faced with it so plainly.

This also is revealing about the standard of living in Chile, which is one of the two or three South American countries fully above the "third world" status you might think at first. The fact it did so well in the United States (earning half a million dollars) is not because it was a glimpse of a foreign impoverished country, but because it resembled so well the situation in American households. Those with maids.

See this? Yes, certainly. It has a simple cinema-verite style, not quite home movies but shot almost entirely inside the house in a shaky camera. The plot might not be enough for some viewers--after awhile it is what it is without a lot of complications. Or at least not complications we haven't seen before. What carries it is the sincerity of the performances, especially Saavedra's.

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.

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.

She's going a bit crazy. The house is her turf; and she knows how to take advantage of it. She will lock you out if she can, so pocket a spare key. Raquel! Let me in!

An amusing study of human territoriality and the limitations of one's ability to control what is thought as a possessed environment, the film explores irrational behaviors that can be remedied by tenderness and patience.

This Chilean film is among the best foreign origin films of the year. Sad, funny, charming and unpredictable. Nice job, Sebastian Silva. Catalina Saaverda is brilliant as the somewhat disturbed maid, Raquel. The film offers us just a glimpse at Chile; which looks like a nice place.

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.