The Housemaid

This reminded me of Ki-duk Kim films and the visual style of Park Chan-wook films. It's basically a remake of the 1960's movie, that basically has to do with the downfall of a housemaid from working in some rich guy's house. Although the 2010 version differs from the original in many aspects, but that doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing because it has it's own style to hold it's own. Jeon Do-Yeon plays a sweethearted and kind housemaid that grew up in a harsh environment and tries to make a living by becoming a housemaid. Her performance was amazing and Seo Woo did a decent job of playing the spoiled brat as always. And later gets tormented by the wife and the wife's mother of the house, in a very vicious manner. In fact the whole family is crazy except the daughter. This is a dark movie with a handful of sex scenes and graphic parts. There are few foreshadowing in this, but the end irritated me, because karma does not come into play. But it just shows the dark side to reality.

7.9/10

You'd better watch the original movie, 'The Housemaid' directed by Ki-Young Kim in 1960, which is one of the first and finest Korean movie I've seen so far. Compared to the original version, The Housemaid (2010) is really deceiving.

The first hour is OK, but then it gets really boring, even though the acting isn't that bad. It's just a pity that such good actors' talent was wasted (see Do-Yeon Jeon in 'Sunshine (2007)' and Jung-Jae Lee in 'New World (2013)').

Not to mention the ending, which reminded me Brian De Palma's 'The Fury', deceiving too.

This was my first Do-yeon Jeon film and I wasn't sure what to expect but I was blown away by the intensity of the films bleak undertones. Do-yeon plays the part marvelously and there are other impressive performances from Seo-Hyeon Ahn and Yeo-Jong Yun.

I sat riveted throughout while it twisted and turned down its sometimes too obvious narrative path.

The rather theatrical ending was a bit of a surprise but didn't spoil the films impact too much.

I have yet see the other Do-yeon Jeon films but based on this performance I can't wait.

The original South Korean film from the 1960s called The Housemaid is both classist and misogynistic. The poor widdle rich people are the victims in the original flick, and the husband who is but a boy in a man's body is seduced by a wicked witch of a servant....yeah, its pretty bad in terms of glad handing traditional conservative patriarchal values. So refreshingly, the 2010 remake - also from South Korea - turns that nauseating narrative on its head.

Instead, kind but not very bright and recently divorced Eun-yi is humanized by an introduction to her cramped working class life which she shares with a very close but platonic female friend, before she is thrust into the wealthy family that sees her as nothing but an animal. She's overjoyed to have such a cushy position in a big house, and loves the daughter of the spoiled married couple almost like her own child.

The wife is pregnant and utterly horrible (she makes Eun-yi hand wash her dirty panties), and naturally due to her being so close to delivery while carrying twins, she's not particularly interested in having more sex with her entitled, snobbish husband. So he imposes himself upon the young maid and rewards her with extra pay to service his "needs."

The only person in the entire film who seems to have a bit of sense is the elder maid servant, Byung-shik, who helps herself to oysters and wine and sees her lowly position for what it actually is. A petty betrayal of Eun-yi (which she later thoroughly regrets and recants upon) leads to murderous drama, revealing what soulless people the ultra-wealthy family really are.

A beautiful but less satisfying predecessor to class war South Korean film, Parasite.

The synopsis for this movie seemed interesting and alluring, and it initially made me purchase the movie from Amazon. Being a fan of Asian cinema, it is always nice to stumble upon something new and (hopefully) interesting.

Such was hardly the case for "The Housemaid".

The story was below average, although it held no major surprises. And what carried the movie was the acting performances, as the storyline itself was just barely scraping to get by. And without giving away anything here, but the ending to that movie was just ludicrous. I hadn't seen that coming, I will give the director that much, but come on, that was just ridiculous.

The DVD cover even has "a sexy thriller" branded on it. Hmmm, let's think about that for a second. Sexy? Well perhaps by Korean standard, but hardly by Western. Thriller? Ehm, that would be a big, blunt no!

I was less than impressed with the movie, and it wasn't really all that entertaining. It was easy to have one's attention drifting elsewhere. The better parts of the movie was the acting, as the people cast for the roles were doing good jobs, plus the characters themselves were interesting - but they just weren't given the time or space to fully develop on the screen.

In overall, then "The Housemaid" seems like a movie that wanted to tell a deeper story, but had to suffer from limited time or lack of creative ideas. Regardless, then there are far better Korean movies available.