for this week's TRIBUNE magazine : 'The Maid' [7/10]

for this week’s TRIBUNE magazine : ‘The Maid’ [7/10]

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The Maid
Director: Sebastián Silva
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OF all the films to have obtained UK release so far in 2010, number seven in my personal top ten* would be director/co-writer Sebastián Silva’s The Maid, a very smart, very sharp Chilean drama with darkly comic elements. It’s been earning plaudits and awards on the festival circuit since premiering at Sundance last January – including when making its British debut at Edinburgh the following June – and arrives on our screens just as Silva’s follow-up Old Cats is being prepared for its unveiling at the select New York Film Festival (Sep 24 – Oct 10).
   This one is primarily a character-study of Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) a 41-year-old “domestic” who’s been in service with the same middle-class Santiago family for over two decades. With no (biological) family of her own and, it would seem, no friends, Raquel is starting to experience physical and mental problems – with resulting frictions and mishaps that would, in most circumstances, result in dismissal.
   But Raquel’s position as a semi-official member of the family renders her effectively unsackable – not least because the lady of the house, Pilar (Claudia Celedon) is a bit of a soft touch, one whose solution is to bring in some additional “help” to help the “help”. Raquel sees off two such newcomers – callow au pair Mercedes (Mercedes Villanueva) and the significantly older, more experienced Sonia (Anita Reeves) – but surprisingly manages to strike up a tentative friendship with the easygoing third, Lucy (Mariana Loyola.)
   South American cinema has long had a ongoing fascination with the relationships – sometimes warm, sometimes tricky – between maids and their employers, not least because residential domestic staff aren’t by any means the preserve of the rich in several of the continent’s societies. This Chilean variation is a very solid addition to the sub-genre: shot on hand-held digital video, has an engaging immediacy that unfussily evokes the chaotic atmosphere of the family residence – indeed, we very rarely stray from its confines – with a pleasingly light touch.
   Crucially, and thanks in no small part to Saavedra’s scarily committed performance, we always feel sympathy – even pity – for Raquel, even when her behaviour strays from eccentric to erratic and beyond. Silva and Pedro Peirano’s screenplay – built around Raquel’s dealings with Pilar, Pilar’s teenage kids, and her three “rivals” – crucially allows each character to develop a convincing range of traits and peculiarities, building neatly into an impressively astute whole.

Neil Young
17th August, 2010
written for the August 25th edition of Tribune magazine

* The top half-dozen, for what it’s worth, are The Disappearance of Alice Creed, I Am Love, Werner Herzog’s The Bad Lieutenant, Kick-Ass, Frownland and Inception (though I must confess that I’ve yet to catch the much-admired Toy Story 3 and Still Walking.)

THE MAID : [7/10] : Chile (/Mex) 2009 : Sebastián SILVA : 96m : seen at Filmhouse cinema, Edinburgh, 20th June 2009 (press show – Edinburgh International Film Festival. Original report. {20/28}