THE HOUSEMAID
Written & Directed by Im Sang-soo, based on the film by Kim Ki-young
Produced by Jason Chae
Released by IFC Films
Korean with English subtitles
South Korea. 107 min. Not Rated
With  Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Jung-jae, Youn Yuh-jung, Seo Woo & Park Ji-young

Im Sang-soo, the director of the latest model of The Housemaid, buffs to a sheen a hoary premise, that of a young innocent taken advantage of and betrayed by the more powerful. Recycled variations go back to the early days of movies when poor single mother Lillian Gish was kicked to the snowy ground by hard-hearted Yankees in 1920’s Way Down East. We’re not dealing with the moral shadings of Henry James here, but tried-and-true melodrama, but this isn’t your granny’s woman picture. Im leaves little to the imagination when the film’s master of the universe, Hoon (Lee Jung-jae), pays a late-night visit to Eun-yi, the newly hired nanny to his daughter and maid to his pregnant wife. He calls all the shots, while steadily holding a glass of wine as he’s being serviced. (I blushed.) At first, she weakly resists—then flings off her clothes. Though he’s married and a father, the thirtyish tycoon plays Beethoven on the piano beautifully, besides being loaded and hot, sporting a gym-produced body that would rival any Bollywood star’s.

Director Im pumps life into the black-and-white morality tale by setting it in a world of voracious consumption. Eun-yi probably has fallen for both Hoon and his mansion, a mausoleum-like repository for the best modern art money can buy. The spacious and austere downstairs is all rigid patterns and surfaces, while the upstairs living quarters have a more suburban, though hipper, look of a Douglas Sirk household—if Jane Wyman was a gazillionaire.

It’s little wonder that Eun-yi outstays her welcome, resisting all maneuvers by Hoon’s wife to kick her out after the affair comes to light. Memories of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca inevitably resurface. Like Joan Fontaine, Eun-yi’s a bit of a dishrag compared to her surrounding trappings or to the other, furiously defined women. And that includes the imperious head housekeeper, Mrs. Cho (the great Youn Yuh-jung), who is more knowing than Mrs. Danvers (both pay particular attention to their mistress’s underwear.)

The film takes advantage of an undercurrent of populist resentment, confirming the self-entitlement of the ultra-rich, who are immune to economic fluctuations. The all-observant Mrs. Cho speaks for the audience through her disgusted reactions. However, it’s never a question of who has the upper hand when the other women band together to get rid of Eun-yi. As their victim, actress Jeon Do-yeon’s disarming playfulness peers out in well-timed moments—whether after a sip of the limitless supply of red wine or while playing with her eight-year-old ward—making Eun-yi seem guileless and effortlessly malleable, but not completely dim. All of the characters are sharply sketched, particularly the iron-willed Mrs. Cho and Hoon’s mother-in-law. Well made on so many levels, this is the sort of adult psychological thriller that wins end-of-the-year accolades in the States (see Black Swan).

For all of its frankness, though, the film will feel something like a throwback, and it has nothing to do with the plot, but with the character of Eun-yi. Perhaps the director intentionally undermines expectations, but you’ll wish the manipulated and fragile Eun-yi had more of a back bone and street smarts. This will be true regardless of whether you’ve seen the original 1960 version by Kim Ki-young, which has gain renewed exposure thanks to a recent Martin Scorsese sponsored restoration. (Click here to see it for free on Mubi.com.) And if you have seen that highly regarded film, you’ll wonder why Im didn’t retain the delicious wickedness of the first housemaid, a bad girl through and through, who’s no one’s pawn, at least not for long. This ambitious domestic pulls all of the strings in the household, and is the more subversive for it. She’s her way ahead of her time and her 2011 counterpart. In this character transformation, Im really has made a different film and not so much a remake. (Not to mention that the 1960 family is barely middle class.) As a result, the newer, fast-paced version loses energy. Self-effacing to a fault, Eun-yi can’t keep up with all of the intrigue. She’s almost always several moves behind the others. Meanwhile, the first Housemaid has a great McGuffin weaving in and out of its plot, making it far more sinister. Warning: it’s never a good idea to keep rat poison in the kitchen cupboard. Kent Turner
January 21, 2011