THE HOUSEMAID (1960)

This is the original version of “The Housemaid” and watching it again, it made it obvious that this version is a far superior film than its recent remake [read my review here].  This film is much more of a dark thriller, and personally, I like the natural progression of the story in this version more.  That said, there is a section of the film near the end, where the husband sleeps with the housemaid (at the instruction of his wife, no less) just to save his reputation and job (by stopping the maid going to the police), that never works for me.  It is the only mis-step of this fine film. 

The black and white cinematography is gorgeous, with some impressive camerawork that is reminiscent of the master, Alfred Hitchcock.  As mentioned in my review of the remake, the two versions go on different paths after the abortion.  In this version, after the maid is forced to have an “abortion”, there is a huge moment where the maid kills the son in revenge.  If her child was forced to die and never be loved, than so must the boy who means everything to his father.  It is a brilliant scene and very disturbing as it illustrates just how far this poor woman has snapped since the death of her own unborn child.  From here, the film continues to head down this dark path, ending with most of the characters dead.  However, this is not the end of the film, the story, maybe, but not the film and what comes next is hilarious. 

After the story has run to its natural conclusion, we return to the living room of the family, everyone is alive and fine, and we realise that the preceding has been a cautionary tale told to us.  The funniest thing is that the husband says that it is like feeding fresh meat to a lion, in regards to hiring a young maid, and that all men would stray (thus making it acceptable).  He then breaks the fourth wall and looks directly at us, the audience, and says “yep, even you” pointing into the crowd while laughing.  He even goes so far as to throw a little wink our way.  It is so surreal, especially with what has come before, but it is also so funny.  Our audience was in fits of laughter!  Overall, this is a fantastic film, and much better than its remake, however they are both their own beasts, which start at the same point but ultimately, drift to different conclusions.

4 Stars - Viewed at the 2010 Melbourne International Film Festival