[Film Review] The Maid (2021)

The Maid is an immensely satisfying, subgenre-blurring rollercoaster from start to finish.

Joy (Ploy Sornarin) takes a job as a maid for wealthy couple Uma (Savika Chaiyadej) and Nirach (Theerapat Sajakul) to care for their daughter Lady Nid (Keetapat Pongrue) who has been diagnosed with a condition that causes her to experience vivid and distressing hallucinations. However, with all the previous maids fleeing the house in terror, Joy must discover how much of the fear is the product of the young girl’s imagination.

Much of The Maid takes place within the confines of the wealthy family home. Having the action set in one location for the bulk of the runtime allows the film to span across its varied times, tones and directions with ease. The house works brilliantly as a base, allowing those changes to flow through the building, getting the audience accustomed to the space before switching it up. This anchoring allows almost everything else to head off the rails when it needs to. The design of the house adds a great deal to the look of the film too, shrouded in blues and sickly yellows for the internal lives while public, external lives use white, red and black for contrast. This is a film where attention to detail really matters and that close attention is rewarded by producing almost three entirely separate films that, (thanks to careful craftsmanship) work together.

There exists a trend for dividing a film into chapters and sometimes this feels like a stylistic choice as opposed to how  The Maid utilises the chapters in a way that works in favour of the narrative and structure. The closing moments of each chapter begin to subvert and unwind the events of the previous one, constantly challenging the viewer on how they feel about characters and how they perceive the situation. That each chapter feels fully formed but can merge into the next with the discovery of more information and a shifting tone is incredibly impressive.

Director Lee Thongkham has crafted a beautiful film and the bold photography pays off in terms of populating the frame with hidden background figures and hardly glimpsed details. The entire film is imbued with a sense of an unknown presence sharing the space with the characters, creating a stifling atmosphere. There are jump scares employed, but this is assisted by the imagery behind them being genuinely unnerving so the jolts are never based simply on  a loud noise or sudden movement. The fluidity of the camera as it explores the house takes a voyeuristic turn, intruding on private spaces across time, inviting Joy to further explore. Where flashbacks are utilised, they take place immediately in front of characters, playing out like mini theatre pieces prompting immediate, visceral reactions.

That the humans of the house are just as sinister as the ghostly figures also works in the film’s favour, constantly flipping and questioning where the threat is coming from. The performances are integral in making this work, with each performer giving their character layers and texture as the film progresses. Chapter one is a striking, almost J-Horror style ghost story, with multiple chills to be had, while chapter two delves into the more emotional drama surrounding a troubled, high-society marriage before chapter three devolves into something else entirely. Each segment is treated with full reverence for necessary plot beats, giving it a sense of style that suits the material. Piyaluk Tuntisrisakul’s writing retains a sharpness across the changes, cleverly building on characters and the setting. There is a richness to the cultural and social setting too, dropping in phrases in the English language by way of a status symbol when the couple are entertaining, in contrast to those who work for them.

While you may be able to predict some of the places The Maid is heading, you are highly unlikely to head into the credits without being surprised at least once. Despite the narrative swerves, there is a keen cohesion across the film and after one watch, you’ll find yourself thinking back to earlier sections and unpicking the visible threads. So often films that rely on pulling the rug from under the audience deliberately obscure important details but The Maid keenly threads everything in a way that feels sophisticated, even when handling pulpier material. 

The Maid is an excellent, fast-moving and unique work, creating a collage of much-loved horror genre set pieces to create a stand out, slickly produced story.

The Maid is available to download and stream from 11th October from all leading platforms.

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