½
USA 2025
Opening January 15, 2026
Directed by: Paul Feig
Writing credits: Rebecca Sonnenshine, Freida McFadden
Principal actors: Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, Brandon Sklenar
The Housemaid brings a stylish, psychological thriller that thrives on misdirection, mounting tension, and the unsettling thrill of not knowing who to trust.
Millie (Sydney Sweeney), a young and attractive woman, takes a job as a live-in housemaid for the affluent Winchester family. Millie needs a fresh start in life and is offered the opportunity of a lifetime sent by the gods, a chance to start over and to gain consistency after an incident in her past. She is ever determined to make this new position work, come what may.
Enter Nina (Amanda Seyfried), the estranged mother and wife, who has it all—the decadent lifestyle and the dazzling husband. But somewhere beneath the surface lies something dark and mysterious, and Millie is yet to find out just how challenging her new position and lifestyle are going to demand of her.
The charming and charismatic Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), always composed and ever so patient, seems too good to be true. He appears to be juggling between keeping the peace and trying to make everyone happy and content.
Throughout the 131 minutes, the film is filled with manipulation, control, and mind games, bringing twists along the way that are packed with a punch. The housemaid isn’t just a thriller, it’s a decadent psychological feast, stylish, seductive and laced with enigma, keeping the audience guessing until the end. (Charis H.)
Another Opinion by Marinell H.
½
The neighborhood, the monogramed electronically operated iron gate, the staggeringly impressive entrance and, surprise surprise, an elegant yet friendly and considerate mistress of the mansion. Driving away, Millie (Sydney Sweeney) can only hope Mrs. Winchester (Amanda Seyfried)—call me Nina—does not dig deep into her cobbled-together resume. Days stretch into one another, and because of her precarious living situation Millie considers other options. When Nina does phone, they agree she start immediately. This time, the sour faced gardener’s (Michele Morrone) silent staring frightens her; more important, Nina is impressed with her work and generous, just as Millie flourishes living in the lap of luxury. Inexplicably, when her hunk of a husband Andrew (Brandon Sklenar) and chubby aloof adolescent Cece (Indiana Elle) return Nina’s nervousness is so palpable she slip-slides out of control. Andrew’s mother’s (Elizabeth Perkins) haughty coldness is a strain on Nina, Millie notices. As the Winchester’s factotum, Millie overhears a lot; taking some pity on Cece, and even Andrew, they bond. When Nina’s jealousy turns nasty and menacing, and more than even the anxious, flawed Millie wants to cope with, she easily steps into sympathetic arms instead. As the idiom goes, “out of the frying pan and into the fire.”
Based on Freida McFadden’s "monster hit" psychological thriller novel, with a screenplay from Rebecca Sonnenshine, director Paul Feig somehow manages to stifle any thriller zing as the film moves step by incremental step along. With the result that the anxiety-ridden action and tension are crammed into the film’s last half hour. Seyfried and Sklenar add some firework-emotive characteristics to their characters, whereas Sweeny’s vapid portrayal is distracting. John Schwartzman’s cinematography is fine; Brent White’s editing did not compensate for Feig’s lackluster direction. The Housemaid – Wenn sie wüsste has its moments, although an apt adage is, it’s “too little, too late.” Read the book instead or wait until its digital media release. 131 minutes