The Housemaid

1960 ‘하녀’ Directed by Kim Ki-young

A piano composer's family moves into a new house; when his pregnant wife collapses from working to support the family, he hires a housemaid to help with housework.

Lee Eun-shim Ju Jeung-nyeo Kim Jin-kyu Um Aing-ran Ahn Sung-ki Lee Yoo-ri Go Seon-ae

Alternative Titles

La servante, Hanyo - Das Hausmädchen, Hanyo, La doncella

crime drama

111 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by kailey ★★★★ 7

please choose the synonym of the word given
1. family
a. unit
b. love
c. status
d. pain
2. money
a. bone tired
b. unattainable
c. a cage
d. everything
3. children
a. rude little buggers
b. an investment
c. your future
d. dead
4. love letters
a. innocent
b. a child's first love
c. a dark spark
d. she stands outside the window in the rain
5. marriage
a. necessary
b. repression
c. words that pierce like weapons
d. his hand is cold
6. housemaid
a. chores
b. rat poison above the sink
c. her dark hair piled above her pale face
d. you brought this upon yourself
Review by Aaron ★★★★ 8

Part of March Around the World 2017
“Why did you lie?” “Your parents taught me how to.”
For a certain stripe of cinephile, the “lost film” is something of an obsession, as demonstrated by Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation and its tireless restoration efforts. Figures vary as to how many movies have vanished—in 2013, the Library of Congress estimated that 75% of silent-era pictures have been permanently lost—but what is certain is that, between fires and wars and simple neglect, many films that were will never be again.
It is a great loss, made all the greater for the unknowability of its breadth. Naturally not all, or even many, of these lost films would be gems—we may rest relatively assured that…
Review by Cam ★★★★ 4

I only wanted to save my family from this living hell.
How far would you go to keep your family together?
This dark melodrama crams an entire soap opera into a single film that’s packed with more twists and turns than a bowl full of rat-poisoned noodles.
Kim Ki-young directs the hell out of this story and keeps you guessing right to the end.
Bong Joon-ho has said this was an influence on Parasite, and although it’s a very different story, you can certainly see the inspirational elements.
You can’t simply overlook such indecent behavior.

Cinematic Time Capsule - 1960 Ranked
Martin Scorsese’s Favorite Films
Review by Remobo ★★★★ 10

This movie lives in "Parasite"'s basement.
You see, this is why I don't watch weepy, melodramatic soap operas...because I will fall right into them. And this movie is like an entire season of a twisty-turny, trashy, daytime soap all contained within a beautifully shot and gorgeously choreographed classic of South Korean cinema; like a fried Twinkie, wrapped in a napkin, buried at the bottom of a Tom Ford Tara Small T Clasp Alligator Shoulder Bag (retail: $15,500).
I was appropriately aghast, astonished, and a-shocked at all of the big music sting moments, except when I was inappropriately a-giggling at the pure melodramatic overload of it all. There are some real nice surprises in this, despite all of the telegraphing it…
Review by Terése Flynn ★★★★ 4

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Rat poison is a viscous thing to die from. It makes your blood thinner and makes you die because of internal bleeding. You can vomit blood. Piss blood. And the inner bleeding can show as bruising on your body.
Rat poison is the main ingredient in The Housemaid. There's a bottle in the kitchen cabinet waiting to get used right from the beginning of the film. An early indication of this film spiraling down in an disastrous way. But dying from rat poison is a long and painful experience. And the true rat poison in this story is the housemaid, and the family all chose to take the rat poison willingly. There's no good versus evil. And you sure shouldn't…
Review by Paul Elliott ★★★★½

The Housemaid is a South Korean movie that’s beautifully filmed in black-and-white by director Kim Ki-young. It primarily takes place within a limited number of small locations but Kim fashions an awe-inspiring use of their dimensions, and despite the narrative being slightly melodramatic it’s the presentation of the shadowy and clandestine elements which he magnificently manipulates that creates a frightening and unpleasant situation. It’s a confrontational story which includes some terrific sound effects and serves as a warning for perceived social and economic statuses.
Review by Zoë 🐝 ★★★

The Housemaid is basically only male anxiety. Male anxiety about what would happen if women treated men like how men treat women (systemically not individually). Our main male character is technically in the position of power as a patriarch and a teacher, and when his power goes unchecked, his world is safe and normal. But as soon as a student is inappropriate to him, his grip on male power (specifically sexual dominance) disappears. He is the one being desired inappropriately. He is the one being assaulted. He is the object that one woman can give to another. The Housemaid is terrified of the power being flipped, even ending with the intention to quell its male audience's fears about the film…
Review by Cormac 👑 ★★★½ 9

Did you like Parasite? Were you a fan of its innovative and revolutionary approach to architecture and stairs in particular as symbolism for social imbalance and vehicle for horror-like dread? How about it’s unique ability to infuse anti-bourgeois commentary on Korean class warfare, familial disintegration and fluid tracking shots for a genre-bending thrill ride of unnerving, at times jaw-dropping effect?
If you answered yes to one or more of the above, then have I got the 60 year-old movie for you! Just add a touch more sexual obsession, a spoonful of venomous melodrama, and a generous helping of betrayal, revenge and all things deceitful; and only then will you begin to understand what you’re getting yourself into with Kim Ki-Young’s The Housemaid.
Review by Jaime Rebanal ★★★★★ 3

It's all about what's at the top of the staircase. That's one of two significant symbols that Kim Ki-young reinforces into your mind when you're watching The Housemaid. For when you look at the appearance of a staircase in the film, you also see how it represents the disparity between the upper class and the working class.
The Housemaid is a film all about lust, desires drawn out as a result of a system that regulates how its citizens act - creating the falsified and perceived image we see up close. Such desires can only become so strong, the borders between the upper class and the working class only come down ever so slowly, an ordinary young housemaid can manifest…
Review by Scumbalina ★★★★★ 2

The Housemaid was the first Korean film I fell in love with. Manipulation bursting from the seams, the inevitability of it all. Don't eat the food. Don't drink the water. You know exactly what's going to happen when the maid enters the home. Interestingly, the women are of course over-worked, over-tasked and over-burdened but the extent to which the MAN was objectified painted a fascinating portrait of "FAMILY" being a COMMODITY that is either earned or stolen. He is property to be obtained.
Lee Eun-shim's performance deserves every accolade under the moon. She slithers between sexy, terrifying, repulsive (the character's energy is repulsive). By the end she barely seems human. Who the fuck is she? She's an idea. She is…
Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★ 2

"This never would have happened if we had stayed in our old house."
Bong Joon-ho recommended The Housemaid as homework for Parasite, and it’s not hard to see why. While this might not have the same sort of mission-statement class consciousness or explicit economic critique as that film, it shares an examination of South Korean domestic spaces and their reliance on forgotten or erased labor, their reliance on the labor of folks the middle class would rather not think about.
Mr. and Mrs. Kim got pregnant and moved into a new house, and now they have too much housework to do on their own, so they decide they need a maid. Mr. Kim works at a local factory as a…
Review by Kristen Yoonsoo Kim ★★½ 1

must have been shocking when it first came out. there are some strong what ever happened to baby jane vibes (two years prior, too!) and likely cites hitchcock’s suspicion as an influence. i was impressed by a lot of it — the visual language with hands (the male lead is a piano teacher) and how successfully it turns into a nail biter of a thriller — but ultimately it feels like “sorry men are trash but it’s the woman’s fault for seducing/inviting the seducer into the home.” and trust me i usually love movies about women going mad.

ps. 1960s korean sounds so weird it took me out of the acting pretty immediately too

35mm. FSLC.

Recent reviews

Review by David Zavala ★★★★½

March Around the World 2021 - Film #2 - South Korea
Glad I finally watched 'The Housemaid', I knew it was very important in the history of Korean cinema, so what better time than now?
Honestly, this was not what I was expecting at all. Fueled by desire and obsession (along with commentary on social class) this Melodrama plays like a sinister Horror film. Has a very unique style that really pulled me in, some of the moments I didn't see coming and were a bit shocking at times. So many shocking events happen so quickly that it could be considered absurd in a different film, but the confidence of director Kim Ki-young pulls it off and manages to keep 'The Housemaid' dark, tense and captivating.
Review by tanya ★★★★

this happened to my buddy eric
Review by Russell ★★★★

What in the twilight zone was the ending? Lol
Very interesting movie. Definitely influential for Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite.
Review by Matt ★★★★

Really appreciate the effort that went into restoring this. It's a shame that the original negative wasn't preserved in its entirety, and thus the quality dips in places, but it's still such a good story. Love to see a story from this era whose action centers around an unreserved, sexually charged femme fatale. Absolutely wild that (according to IMDB), actress Lee Eun-shim played her part so well that the South Korean public's reaction prevented her from being cast in future projects. Director Kim Ki-Young has some nice dolly shots and framing that utilize his two-story set well.
The Criterion extra of Bong Joon-ho discussing this provided very helpful context to understand some of the thematic elements at play that weren't obvious to a viewer like myself unfamiliar with the time period of its setting. He also offers an interesting interpretation of the tacked-on ending, which the more I think about, the more I like his line of thought.
Review by anabeld

jesus fucking christ
Review by Trent ★★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Wow this movie has it all. Suicide, abortion, child death, unfaithful husbands, scheming wives. A real feel good movie.
Review by Sean Burdett ★★½

51/100
This one feels very Hitchcockian to me and that's exactly where it falters. This is far too formalistic a thriller for me to fall in love with in any capacity. There were hints of something I could love in here, but it never really built to anything I really appreciated. Too much of this is in the vein of "unpredictable" and "twisting narrative" for it to be made for me. There are some like that I enjoy, but this just wasn't one. I think the biggest dividing line on that, in terms of enjoyment, is the characters. If I'm genuinely invested in the characters then an "unpredictable thriller" will work really well for me because I want to know…
Review by Liv ★★★★ 2

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

That fourth wall break at the end was hilarious and well needed after one of the most bleak and infuriating final halves of any film ever.
Review by Dylan ★★★★

Totally wild and melodramatic. It feels like there's not a scene that goes by where someone isn't getting poisoned, their hair pulled, or slapped. Or all of the above.
Obviously, this film is huge to South Korea's film legacy and I can see the blueprint this laid out for stuff like Parasite. I've wanted to check this out since it got on my radar early last year.
Review by jess ★★★½

the housemaid walked so parasite could run
Review by selahlucy ★★★½

Thank god the little shit kid died
Review by KoreaFilmophile ★★★★

The Housemaid does much to deserve being considered one of the greatest Korean films of all time. Released in 1960, this timeless film can still hold the viewer's interest just as well today. It has notable flaws, but the story is timeless.
=Opinion breakdown=
Enjoyment: 9.3/10
Narrative: 8.0/10
Production: 8.5/10
Satisfaction: 3/5
If you agree with me, be sure to check my other reviews, as they might help form a guideline to assist you in finding more good films!