Maid to Order

From the opening bell until we see where writer-director Sebastián Silva plans to take us, fear hangs over "The Maid." Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) is the maid and a more dour look you will never find than in this woman trapped in a permanent state of sullenness. Raquel is the live-in servant for a family of six. The mom is Pilar (Claudia Celedón), an attractive woman who spends her time bending over backwards for the various misbehaviors of Raquel. Why she does this is never explained. Presumably, she just abhors conflict of any sort. Her husband, Mundo (Alejandro Goic) is here only to build models and play golf. He is for the most part uninvolved with the day-to-day doings in the household.

For a while, "The Maid" conjures up memories of "Tatie Danielle," Étienne Chatiliez' outstanding black-humor film from 1990, but "The Maid" veers off in a different direction, seeking to understand what makes Raquel so sour and slowly revealing her to us and to the family she serves. Instead of black humor, we have a fascinating character study of a complex individual.

Raquel suffers from near constant headaches and when her health becomes an issue for Pilar, a new assistant is brought in to help. The new maid is met with arms that are far from open. Raquel makes her time there totally miserable. More maids follow and the behavior towards them from Raquel remains abominable, although many of these encounters are awfully funny in a cruel way. You laugh, knowing that you really shouldn't.

Enter Lucy (Mariana Loyola), the latest assistant in the seemingly endless chain. When Raquel tries her mean tricks on Lucy she is met by an entirely different reaction than she is used to and it stuns her and alters her ever so slightly. There is nothing earth-shattering about the result of her newly defined relationship with Lucy. Instead, it sets off a slow metamorphosis of our titular main character.

"The Maid" is neither large nor bombastic. Rather, it's an unfolding, sometimes cruel, sometimes humorous look at the kind of person who is often taken for granted. Silva makes sure that we can't look past Raquel. She matters and is worth examining. In the end, we're not exactly sure what road Raquel will take with the rest of her life but we are confident that no matter how it will all turn out, Raquel will have at least a chance of finding her way. Everything works because Silva directs with a light yet firm touch but primarily because Saavedra breathes life into Raquel. Look for a possible Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film category and Saavedra has a longshot's chance at a nomination for Best Actress as well. Both would be well deserved.