Based on The New York Times Bestseller, “The Housemaid” by Freida McFadden was transformed into a thrilling film, directed by Paul Feig. The book published on Aug. 23, 2022 and rapidly gained popularity. Since McFadden announced the production of the movie in October 2024, fans stirred on the internet, quickly bringing attention to the story. Released on Dec. 19, the film grossed more than $75 million domestically and $133 million worldwide in just 17 days. I’ve read the entire “Housemaid” series and as a typical book-to-movie hater, I felt very satisfied with this adaptation. 

The story features a young woman, Millie Calloway. Her criminal record made searching for a job difficult so she struggled with scavenging enough money for meals and made her car a home. She interviewed for the role of a housemaid and quickly accepted the job working for the wealthy Winchester family. As the role was live-in, Millie moved into the small attic and made herself at home. After a few weeks of working for the family, she notices psychological abnormalities in the wife, Nina, and eventually uncovers sinister secrets within the walls of the home she once felt safe in. I loved the thrill of the story as I read it and watching the suspense build in theaters was riveting. 

While the announcement of the movie received a generally positive response, the casting raised concerns among fans, claiming that the casting did not match the characters’ descriptions in the book. Sydney Sweeney played the role of Millie and I thought she was perfect. As described in the book, Sweeney portrayed the almost nerdy, attractive young woman and matched the wit of the character. Her line deliveries created a humorous atmosphere while holding the underlying suspense throughout the movie. Nina’s character as portrayed in the book, centers around insanity and delusion. She’s described as a larger, older woman losing touch of her appearance. Casting Amanda Seyfried as Nina automatically took away that aspect of the character, which I felt was important to the development of the plot and understanding of the actions taken. Besides appearance, Seyfried accurately portrayed the personality of Nina. She encapsulated the audience with her quick responses and ability to basically go insane. The character of Nina’s husband, Andrew, features a wealthy businessman who serves as the “perfect” husband and father to Nina’s child. Brandon Sklenar was perfect for this role. His build and confidence matched the character perfectly. His portrayal of the helpless husband roped me in and even made me forget the main twist in the book, adding to the suspenseful experience. Probably the biggest missing piece from book-to-movie is the character of Enzo. In the book, Enzo holds the role as the Winchester’s Italian landscaper who Millie confides in as she becomes more cautious of the Winchesters. Enzo played a large role in helping Nina escape and protecting the girls from Andrew, although this was not portrayed in the movie. Enzo’s amount of screen time and the importance of the character is significantly less than how described in the book. I would’ve appreciated Enzo’s story to remain the same in the movie as in the book, but I didn’t feel like it took away from the plot so I’m not too mad about it. 

Now let’s talk about the twist. Throughout the story, Nina serves as the crazy wife accused of trying to murder her daughter and Andrew is the patient husband who everyone feels sorry for. Millie works to please Nina and eventually fears her authority. One night when Nina goes out of town, Andrew and Millie spend the night together in a hotel after seeing a play. They fall in love and Andrew kicks Nina out of the house, pursuing his relationship with Millie. At this point in the movie, the storytelling switches to Nina as she goes over the truth behind her relationship with Andrew and the abuse she faced. The truth stood that Andrew spent years abusing Nina for things such as not keeping up with getting her roots done, to which he would then lock her in the attack and make her pluck out 100 strands of hair, follicle attached, and would only let her out if she obeyed. Nina hired Millie with the hopes of Andrew falling in love with her, allowing Nina’s escape and pursuit of justice. Eventually, Andrew punished Millie in the same way. Just when she thinks she’s won it all, Andrew locks Millie in the attic after she accidentally broke a plate and didn’t clean it. He made her cut her stomach 21 times with the shards of the broken plate. However, this was different from the book where Millie was required to balance heavy textbooks on her stomach for hours. Sweeney’s acting during these violent scenes was incredibly impressive. To wrap up the film, Millie and Nina work together to kill Andrew and free themselves from his abusive ways. Although this differs from the ending of the book, where he dies from dehydration as a result of Millie locking him in the attic, the ending was a proud resolution and a solid women empowerment moment.

Overall, the movie upheld the powerful storytelling McFadden displayed in her book. It’s common for book-to-movie adaptations to lose their plot and change pivotal moments, but this one stayed fairly accurate. Everything that Feig cut out made sense and didn’t change any aspect of the story. I appreciate the attention to detail and the cinematography that brought this riveting story to life. I would recommend “The Housemaid” to any book lover or someone just wanting to see a good movie.