The premise to this film seems like an obvious setup to some social commentary about class. A 41-year-old live-in maid to an affluent family (a couple and their four kids) has a job that spans nearly all of her waking hours. The family is carefree and has minimal concerns about life; the husband's desire to sneak out and golf without his wife knowing about it is seems to be the extent of their drama. Meanwhile, the maid is showing serious signs of strain after having worked for them for two decades. She often has a sullen attitude, does petty things to the teenage daughter, and most concerningly, gets headaches that sometimes cause her to black out and fall down. When the mother of the family tries to bring in other maids to help her, out of insecurity she gets territorial and acts in cruel ways to the new women.
One of the strengths of the film is that it doesn't fall into an obvious story, one that would have a completely evil family and a virtuous maid, ala Cinderella. The mother is kind and tolerant of the maid's behavior, and there is not some big traumatic event that easily explains the tension we see. The issue is the system, and it's apparent that this 41-year-old maid was once just as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as the first new woman they bring in to help. Her family is distant and her five siblings have all got families of their own. The family she's living with, with kids she's known all their lives, is still in the end her employer, and free to remind her of the fact that she's "just the maid," and easily replaceable. She has no free time or outside life, and not surprisingly, we find out she's a virgin.
It seemed like the film was asking to empathize with someone who is frankly a hard person to like, given some of the mean things she does, and then it has a new maid do just that, which was a wonderful moment. She responds to hate with love, and in one of the film's more profound moments, asks the woman "what did they do to you?" instead of getting angry at her. The film gives us the perspective of a maid and in that way reminds us of the dramatic effect wealth disparity has on the most basic ways people live their lives, but it seemed like it was really more about empathy and love than class, which was really quite touching. Lucy, the newcomer who demonstrates this (Mariana Loyola) is an incredible character, and left a lasting impression.
One of the strengths of the film is that it doesn't fall into an obvious story, one that would have a completely evil family and a virtuous maid, ala Cinderella. The mother is kind and tolerant of the maid's behavior, and there is not some big traumatic event that easily explains the tension we see. The issue is the system, and it's apparent that this 41-year-old maid was once just as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as the first new woman they bring in to help. Her family is distant and her five siblings have all got families of their own. The family she's living with, with kids she's known all their lives, is still in the end her employer, and free to remind her of the fact that she's "just the maid," and easily replaceable. She has no free time or outside life, and not surprisingly, we find out she's a virgin.
It seemed like the film was asking to empathize with someone who is frankly a hard person to like, given some of the mean things she does, and then it has a new maid do just that, which was a wonderful moment. She responds to hate with love, and in one of the film's more profound moments, asks the woman "what did they do to you?" instead of getting angry at her. The film gives us the perspective of a maid and in that way reminds us of the dramatic effect wealth disparity has on the most basic ways people live their lives, but it seemed like it was really more about empathy and love than class, which was really quite touching. Lucy, the newcomer who demonstrates this (Mariana Loyola) is an incredible character, and left a lasting impression.