2010’s The Housemaid is a remake (of sorts?) of a 1960 film. I’ve never seen it but certainly might like it since I liked the remake (directed by Im Sang-soo). In it, Eun-yi Li is a new housemaid for a rich Korean family. Seduced by Hoon, the man of the house, Eun-yi is the Karen McDougal to Hoon’s Donald Trump. Once this is discovered, Hoon’s wife and mother-in-law become bloodthirsty. Eun-yi is in truth wronged and turns vengeful.

The film is smartly, brilliantly directed and edited. Eun-yi standing at a small distance from an older female employee, a fire burning in a lengthy fireplace in the background, suggests the housemaid’s hope for a camaraderie with the woman that does not yet exist. The acting is top-notch, especially that of Jeon-Do Yeon, with her flawless nuance and kind feeling, in the title role. She’s required to be sexy too, and although her breasts may be small, they are shot in a way that renders them utterly lovely.

The climax and denouement of The Housemaid are pretty weird. The only thing I can submit about the denouement is that perhaps it is meant to show that the movie’s rich folks are more or less content in their decadence.

(In Korean with English subtitles)