How entertaining? ★★★☆☆
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 5 December 2010
This a movie review of THE HOUSEMAID. |
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“I checked your résumé, but I wanted to see for myself how you live,” Byung-sik (Yoon Yeo-jeong)
The Closing Night Gala was a remake of a 1960 Korean classic. This is a modern update by director Im Sang-soo, about a woman who joins an extremely wealthy family as a nanny and housemaid. There are just four other people in the house: the husband, the heavily pregnant (with twins) wife, their young daughter, and an older maid. The husband then starts having an affair with the maid and all sorts of repercussions ensue.
I know this is meant to be a commentary on class, privilege and gender, and the film is handsomely made with good performances, but this all feels bit pointless and out of touch. Why bother making a tale about capitalism and power about the master-servant relationship? Who is this aimed at? While an audience can sympathise, it is difficult to empathise. Had this been about a different era, fair enough, it could have been a historical dissection, but it is a contemporary tale. Not many people have servants anymore, or are servants (unless the filmmaker is being extremely allegorical). Why not analyse the impact of the rich on, say, office workers? I was never bored in THE HOUSEMAID, but I kept wondering if the director had turned his sights on more relevant targets, this would have been better use of resources. Im Sang-soo stated in the Q&A that he plans on expanding the themes started here on capitalism. I look forward to seeing what he does.
The Closing Night Gala was a remake of a 1960 Korean classic. This is a modern update by director Im Sang-soo, about a woman who joins an extremely wealthy family as a nanny and housemaid. There are just four other people in the house: the husband, the heavily pregnant (with twins) wife, their young daughter, and an older maid. The husband then starts having an affair with the maid and all sorts of repercussions ensue.
I know this is meant to be a commentary on class, privilege and gender, and the film is handsomely made with good performances, but this all feels bit pointless and out of touch. Why bother making a tale about capitalism and power about the master-servant relationship? Who is this aimed at? While an audience can sympathise, it is difficult to empathise. Had this been about a different era, fair enough, it could have been a historical dissection, but it is a contemporary tale. Not many people have servants anymore, or are servants (unless the filmmaker is being extremely allegorical). Why not analyse the impact of the rich on, say, office workers? I was never bored in THE HOUSEMAID, but I kept wondering if the director had turned his sights on more relevant targets, this would have been better use of resources. Im Sang-soo stated in the Q&A that he plans on expanding the themes started here on capitalism. I look forward to seeing what he does.