The Housemaid
A favorite at this year's Cannes, Toronto and Fantastic Fest film festivals, THE HOUSEMAID is a stylish, sexy thriller about an innocent young woman caught in the twisted web of a rich family's games. Eun-yi (Cannes Best Actress winner Jeon Do-youn of SECRET SUNSHINE) is hired as a nanny in an lavish mansion by businessman Hoon (Lee Jung-jae) and his very pregnant wife, Hae-ra (Seo Woo). When Eun-yi is seduced by the father of the house, she becomes the unwitting victim in a series of traps laid by the women of the house-Hae-ra, her villainous mother (Park Ji-young), and their seemingly loyal but increasingly bitter housekeeper (Yun Yeo-jong). Intensely erotic and fiendishly entertaining, THE HOUSEMAID builds to an unforgettable climax as Eun-yi must outwit them and escape their schemes to protect her sanity-and her life-from the vicious family.
Reviews from Rotten Tomatoes
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Mr. Im's voluptuous visual palette combined with the dexterity of his cast is enough to hold your interest and, at times, to make you hold your breath.
A.O. Scott, New York Times, 01.20.2011 -
There's something nicely kinky in this lusciously photographed erotic Korean thriller by Im Sang-soo - at least for those who don't compare it to the far kinkier, out-there 1960 original by Kim Ki-young.
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly, 01.20.2011 -
Even with the piece wobbling between dark psychology and campy soap, the cast is compelling as it navigates the uncertainty.
Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times, 01.27.2011 -
The elevation of the family from middle-class strivers to stratospherically wealthy jerks removes any trace of political specificity, but also elevates it to the chilly realm of the fairy tale.
Jesse Cataldo, Slant Magazine, 01.22.2011
