It is, to put an even finer point on it, the origin of what was known as the \u201c[blank] from hell\u201d movie, applied to one-night stands (Fatal Attraction<\/em>), <\/em>nannies (The Hand that Rocks the Cradle<\/em>), husbands (Sleeping with the Enemy<\/em>), renters (Pacific Heights<\/em>), cops (Unlawful Entry<\/em>), office assistants (The Temp<\/em>), and nymphets (Poison Ivy, The Crush<\/em>). The Housemaid <\/em>is a maid from hell movie, in which a deeply troubled young woman named Myung-sook (Lee Eun-shim) joins a household already mired in emotional intensity, desperation, and misery, to help out with the cooking and cleaning while Mrs. Kim (Ju Jeung-ryu) is on bed rest, awaiting the arrival of their third child. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Kim (Kim Jin-kyu) is a piano teacher, conducting additional lessons in the home to supplement their income\u2014they recently moved into a big, new house, just as Mrs. Kim grew too tired and sick to work. His primary at-home student is Kyung-hee Cho (Um Aing-ran), who\u2019s crush on her teacher has already caused collateral damage, and we get some sense that the proximity and intimacy of these lessons is starting to get to him. \u201cI can\u2019t let your crush destroy my family!\u201d he insists, but when the new maid makes herself available to him, he barely puts up a fight, and Director Kim\u2019s framing and cutting of the seduction scene is absolutely scorching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And then it reallllly takes a turn into bonkers territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last forty minutes or so, conducted under a cascade of crackling thunder and cleansing rain, are something of a fever dream, as Lee Eun-shim convincingly embodies the character\u2019s mania and desperation and<\/em> her cackling bloodlust, often simultaneously. When the children wail, \u201cWhy did you lie,\u201d she replies, with great satisfaction, \u201cYour parents taught me to!\u201d When she drags Mr. Kim into her quarters for more sex (\u201cThis will be the last time!\u201d she insists, unconvincingly), she takes pleasure in announcing, to his inquisitive daughter, \u201cYour daddy\u2019s going to sleep in my room!\u201d And the answer she provides for her behavior is elegant in its simplicity: \u201cYou\u2019ve ruined me, so I\u2019ll ruin you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Director Kim\u2019s visual wizardry matches his storytelling acumen; one can pinpoint dozens of exhilarating moments, but mine is the incredible shot of the water glass as she walks up the stairs, in a scene that reminds us that Chekhov\u2019s gun has got nothing on Chekov\u2019s rat poison. But the film is most exciting on the level of expectation and delivery. It\u2019s nuts in a way you simply don\u2019t expect for a 1960 movie, foreign or domestic, even when you\u2019re putting it in conversation with something like that year\u2019s Psycho, <\/em>and it reminds us of the true narrative freedom that occurs when all rules are off. Anything really, truly could happen here, which makes it far more tense than Fatal Attraction<\/em> and its ilk; they\u2019ll raise a threat, those movies, but they\u2019re really only willing to kill \u201cbad\u201d people. The Housemaid<\/em> will kill anyone, and even if its ending is a big ol\u2019 cop-out, it doesn\u2019t step wrong until then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/housemaid-1024x576.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Simple synopsis cannot quite convey how fully and exhilaratingly it does so, but suffice it to say that Mr. Kim is caught, that he blames his wife<\/em> for his indiscretions (\u201cThis would have never happened if we had stayed in our old house!\u201d he insists), and that after the new baby is born, Mrs. Kim announces, doomily, \u201cThere\u2019s one more t hing to take care of: the girl has to go.\u201d By the time Myung-sook is standing in their doorway, bleary-eyed, begging for food and water and looking at their new baby like a starving man gazing on a steak dinner, it\u2019s very clear that The Housemaid<\/em> is no ordinary domestic drama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n