The Housemaid (2010)
Director: Im Sang Soo
Casts: Jeon Do Yeon, Lee Jung Jae, Seo Woo, Park Ji Young, and Youn Yuh Jung
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 106 minutes
Eun Yi (Jeon Do Yeon) work as a housemaid in the rich family. The husband had an affair with her behind his wife who is pregnant. Later, Eun Yi found out that she’s pregnant. Once this news is spread within the household, things are going on a topsy-turvy. This is the remake of the 1970’s film which is directed by Kim.
You can see the clashes between the rich and the commoners. The rich gets what they want. Also, they believe money is everything. The commoners are going through tough times to earn the living and wanting to have the sense of happiness within their lives. If they can’t take it anymore, it leads them to commit suicide. There is still a significant rise on the percentage of suicide cases in South Korea. The rich has made the commoners gone mad because of their arrogance and money. The hidden message is that there are social classes in the Korean society such as occupation and lifestyle. This leads the audiences to perceive that the rich people can get their way with money and get what they want. At the same time, the commoners portray how some Korean people are going through hard times socially and economically.
However, I wasn’t really attached to this film that much as the storyline seems to be surface. There was not much impact that made me anticipate. I was a little bit confused from the very beginning of the story until I realized that it shows the daily lives of commoners, including committing suicide. As the storyline goes on, I was on the tightrope as I had tried to like it but I failed to do so. There was not much emotions and hand gripping scenes that keep me holding my breath from time to time. Like Nami, I am shocked and confused. I feel so sorry for Nami for having this kind of family. Even if I tried to rewatch it several times, I still am trying to put the puzzle pieces together to have the whole picture in my head.
Although I get the idea about the ‘war’ between the rich and the poor, I wasn’t truly impressed with the whole storyline because there was a lack of emotions from the characters. The storyline is within the grey area that is a hit-and-miss. I would rather watch the original 1970s Housemaid if I had the chance because maybe that film could be much better than the remake of 2010 Housemaid.
Rating: 7/10
Tags : drama,films,Jeon Do Yeon,Mystery
