The Maid (2009 film)


The Maid is a 2009 comedy-drama film, directed by Sebastián Silva and co-written by Silva and Pedro Peirano. It has won numerous awards since its premiere at the 25th Annual Sundance Film Festival. The film has had much critical acclaim, particularly for Catalina Saavedra's award-winning performance as the lead character.

Plot synopsis

Raquel has served as the maid for the Valdes family for over 23 years. She treats her employers, Pilar and Edmundo with the utmost loyalty and respect. She gets along well with their teenage son, Lucas but clashes with their headstrong daughter, Camila. When Raquel begins to suffer dizzy spells, due to an excessive use of chlorine for household cleaning, Pilar decides to hire additional maids to assist Raquel in her daily chores. The fiercely territorial Raquel resents this and engages in a series of increasingly desperate attempts to drive away maid after maid, including the younger Lucy, in order to maintain her position in the household.

Cast

Critical reception

Critics have responded very positively to the film. The film currently holds a 94% approval rating on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 69 reviews with an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Catalina Saavedra's devastating performance would be reason enough to see The Maid but Sebastian Silva's empathetic direction and finely tuned script only add to the movie's pleasing heft." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 82 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Film critic David Parkinson called it "an exceptional study of the emotional investment that domestics make in the families they serve. Saavedra is mesmerizing as she shifts from subservient to scheming." Chicago Sun Times film critic Roger Ebert described the film as a "unpredictable, naturalistic gem."

Awards and nominations

According to the National Board of Review, The Maid was one of 2009's five best Best Foreign-Language Films; also, it was nominated for the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards consideration honoring 2009 achievements for the same category, and "AyAyAyAy" was one of the 63 songs from eligible feature-length motion pictures contending for nominations in the Original Song category for the 82nd Academy Awards.
Despite the film's great success, the film wasn't chosen as Chile's submission to the 82nd Academy Awards. Instead, Miguel Littin's Dawson Isla 10 was sent, but the film didn't make the short-list.

Awards