THE MAID
Directed by Sebastián Silva
Produced by Gregorio Gonzalez, Issa Guerra, Edgar San Juan, Sebastian Sanchez Amunategui
Written by Pedro Peirano & Silva
Released by Elephant Eye Films
Spanish with English subtitles
Chile/Mexico. 95 min. Not Rated
With Catalina Saavedra, Claudia Celedón, Mariana Loyola, Alejandro Goic, Anita Reeves, Delfina Guzmán, Andrea García-Huidobro & Mercedes Villaneuva 
 

“She’s more or less family.” Chilean director Sebastián Silva’s description of his main character sums up the richly ambiguous situation for an emotionally-handicapped servant determined to remain the sole caretaker for her beloved family.

Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) has been working for one family in Santiago for 23 years and has no intention of doing anything else. In the opening scene, Pilar (the mother), Mundo (the father), and Lucas (the eldest son) prod a visibly uncomfortable Raquel to join them in the dining room for a celebration of her 41^st birthday. After finally relenting, Raquel finishes her slice of cake and quickly gets up to start the dishes. Pilar immediately stops Raquel, telling her to sit down and enjoy herself. “If I don’t do them now, I’m just going to have to do them later,” Raquel responds to a speechless Pilar. The scene economically brings us right up to where Raquel fits into this family dynamic, in all of its messiness.

Raquel may be self-aware when it comes to her standing in the family, but she is nevertheless deeply possessive of them. Plagued by migraines and prone to dizzy spells, Raquel’s mood suffers. Pilar, an insecure matron who relies upon her maid to run the household, insists upon hiring a second domestic hand to the distress of Raquel. With a hearty campaign of psychological torment, Raquel succeeds in driving away both the popular, young Mercedes and later the seasoned, shrewish Sonia. But, after a public collapse and trip to the hospital, Raquel fails to eradicate the persistent, thick-skinned and warm-hearted Lucy (Mariana Loyola).

The emotionally infantile, passive-aggressive Raquel is a pill that takes a while to swallow; her behavior can be downright revolting. But under Silva’s assured direction, Saavedra delivers a fearless performance likely to garner award season attention, and Raquel, disarmed by Lucy, grows on us. Even if we’re not sure if we want to see Raquel strike out on her own, we come to welcome her attempts at friendship and independence. Taking place almost entirely within the walls of the household, The Maid is a claustrophobic, wincingly funny character study that is content to leave its audience unsatisfied with a final scene that, while triumphant on the surface, highlights an underlying pessimism. Patrick Wood
October 16, 2009