That’s super feminist, right? Well, unfortunately, I’m not convinced. While The Housemaid seems to think it’s a natural successor to feminist revenge thrillers like Gone Girl and Promising Young Woman, it lacks their nuance, charisma and human touch.
First, there’s the fact that pretty much all of the female characters feel more like caricatures than actual humans. Millie is a gormless, blank canvas of a character, not helped by Sweeney’s flat, not-quite-human line delivery. Trying to describe any actual traits that define her character is impossible. Then there’s Nina. Seyfried gives it her all, but she has no real option but to go from mad woman stereotype to ballsy girl power heroine without much room for human realism in between. Then there are Nina’s “friends,” a troop of one-dimension sneering, gossiping society women. And in a film that is supposedly so feminist, it’s telling that all of the women are arguably objects of the male gaze.
Daniel McFadden/Lionsgate
There’s also the fact that the film seems to assume that all women want is a man to save them. The problem, the film implies, isn’t the male saviour fantasy that both Nina and Millie seem to live by – it’s that all men apparently suck and are toxic pieces of shit! Once the girls realise how much all men suck, they are primed for some girl power fun! But where is the nuance and modern thinking in this? Getting saved by a man would be great! If only the men were better! And that’s a disappointing stance to take.
The entire premise of this girl power-fuelled revenge tale is flawed. After all, many women no longer relate to the fantasy of a man saving them. And most modern women don’t enter into relationships with men because they represent an escape from their difficult lives. They fall for them because of who they are as people. Unfortunately, this film doesn’t feature any recognisable humans, just ideas of them, so any kind of nuanced relationship is off the cards. The final button of the film, which I won’t spoil, really hits home the black and white, and, frankly, boring gender politics of the film.
