The Housemaid (2010)

A man's affair with his family's housemaid leads to dark consequences.

Director:

Sang-soo Im

Writers:

Ki-young Kim (based on the film by), Sang-soo Im

Stars:

Do-yeon Jeon, Jung-jae Lee, Yuh Jung Youn

15 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Do-yeon Jeon	...	Eun-yi Li
Jung-jae Lee	...	Hoon Goh
Yuh Jung Youn	...	Byung-sik (as Yuh-jung Youn)
Woo Seo	...	Hae-ra
Ji-Young Park	...	Hae-ra's Mother
Seo-hyun Ahn	...	Na-mi
Jung-min Hwang	...	Eun-yi's Friend
So-Ri Moon	...	Obstetrician
Jin-ah Kim	...	Doctor
Yi-yeong Shim	...	Doctor (as Jin-ah Kim)
Tae-back Chae	...	Herbal Medicine Shop Doctor
Sin-hwan Jeon	...	Chief Secretary
Sang-min Noh	...	Driver
Soon-kyu Jang	...	Security
Yong-jae Cho	...	Security 2

Storyline

Eun-yi is a playful young woman, a good match for a job as nanny to a precocious child, Nami, the daughter of a wealthy couple, Hae-ra and Hoon. Hae-ra will soon have twins as well. The majordomo, Mrs. Cho, is the household's cold stone center. Before long, Hoon seduces Eun-yi, and when Mrs. Cho tells Hae-ra's mother about the affair, Eun-yi is up against women with wealth, power, and no conscience. Can Eun-yi maintain her dignity and perhaps even put the family in their place?

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Plot Keywords:

mother in law son in law relationship | power of money | abuse of power | jealous wife | twins | 

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Taglines:

Sometimes innocence becomes a menace.

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

IFC Films [United States] Official site [France]

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean English

Release Date:

26 January 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Housemaid

Filming Locations:

Seoul, South Korea

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$16,670, 23 January 2011

Gross USA:

$157,961

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$14,775,615

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sidus FNH-Benex Cinema Fund 1, Michigan Venture Capital, CJ Venture Investment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie is a remake of 1960 Kim Ki-Young's The Housemaid

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Goofs

The body harness is visible during the hanging.

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Connections

Featured in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #1.3 (2011)

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Soundtracks

Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 26 in E-flat major 'Les Adieux', Op. 81a, 'Adagio' (1st Movement)
Performed by Unknown
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven

User Reviews

Well, it could have been worse... or better for that matter...

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.