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Chile, Mexico · 2009
1h 55m
Director Sebastián Silva
Starring Catalina Saavedra, Claudia Celedón, Andrea García-Huidobro, Mariana Loyola
Genre Comedy, Drama
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Raquel has worked for the Valdes family for over 20 years, the mundanity of her day-to-day tasks beginning to take its toll. When she starts suffering dizzy spells due to excessive chlorine in the cleaning products, the Valdeses hire another maid to help her out. The fiercely territorial Raquel takes issue with this, and rediscovers herself in competition.
In a remarkable performance that won her a special award from the world cinema jury at this year's Sundance Film Festival, Chilean television vet Saavedra goes through one of the most uncanny psychophysical transformations I've ever seen in a movie without the benefit of obvious makeup or other prosthetics.
New York Magazine (Vulture) by David Edelstein
At its midpoint, the film could go either way: toward "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" psychosis or something more hopeful and humanistic. It’s a testament to Saavedra’s tough performance that even with a happy ending, you wouldn’t want to leave her with your kids.
New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman
Silva intends to keep us guessing, and it's fair to say he takes us in unexpected directions. But don't expect any flashy Hollywood twists. The surprises come from Catalina Saavedra's intense lead performance.
In the end what drives the movie is the hip young filmmaker's struggle with himself -- his showman's need to toy with our anxieties threatening to overwhelm his desire to make amends to all the servants he took for granted growing up.
Saavedra is riveting as a servant whose unblinking focus on her routine masks a profound loneliness.
Saavedra, in an incredibly vanity-free performance, never shies away from Raquel’s darkest edges and still forces us to empathize with the frustrations and stunted loneliness of a life lived in servants’ quarters.
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
Raquel's devotion to her employer is barbed with hatred, need, and an insecurity she manifests through constant tiny acts of sabotage that would be funny if they weren't also so chilling -- bordering on psychotic.
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
It takes Mr. Silva a while to finish his story, but the ending of The Maid is so intelligently handled and so generously and honestly conceived, it proves well worth the wait.
Even at its most upbeat, The Maid is something of a tragedy.
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