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The Maid [DVD] [2010] [Region 0]

1 disc
Region Free (info)

A woman feels she must fight to hold on to her place in the household where she's been a servant for much of her life in this drama from writer and director Sebastian Silva. Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) works as a maid for a well-to-do Chilean family, and has been with the household so long that she's come to think of herself as part of the family. However, Raquel is also aware of the distance between herself and her employers, and though she's fiercely devoted to Mundo Valdes (Alejandro Goic), his wife, Pilar (Claudia Celedn), and their son, Lucas (Agustn Silva), she finds herself increasingly at odds with their rebellious daughter, Camila (Andrea Garca-Huidobro). Years of hard and unrelenting work have begun to take their toll on Raquel, and Mundo decides she could use some help; he hires a young au pair, Mercedes (Mercedes Villanueva), to assist her, but Raquel refuses to allow anyone to usurp her role in any way, and treats the girl so horribly she soon quits. Unaware of the conflict between Raquel and Mercedes, Mundo hires an older and more experienced women to work with Raquel, Sonia (Anita Reeves), and it's not long before the two domestics are locked in a fierce battle of wills. LA NANA (aka THE MAID) received its American premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
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Credits

Alejandro Goic, Mariana Loyola, Claudia Celedon, Catalina Saavedra, Andrea Garcia-Huidobro
Critic Reviews

3 stars out of 5 -- "[A] steady and revealing climb inside the lonely and emotionally claustrophobic world of a live-in maid."
Box Office
"THE MAID precisely plumbs the depths of human frailty to compassionately reveal the interior life of a troubled character....This is strikingly talented cinema..."
Hollywood Reporter
"The movie's narrative design is at once simple and complex....The ending of THE MAID is so intelligently handled and so generously and honestly conceived, it proves well worth the wait."
New York Times
"Silva and Saavedra gets across the ennui and irony of a woman who's been working diligently for two decades, only to find that her closes human relationships are with people who hold her job security in their hands." -- Grade: B
A.V. Club
"Catalina Saavedra conjures a performance of such unflinching intensity and naked bravery that at times it's painful to watch." -- Grade: A-
Entertainment Weekly
"Propelled by the acting of Saavedra...director and co-writer Sebastian Silva has come up with something quite special, a film that is both riveting character study and corrosive social commentary."
Los Angeles Times
"The screenplay weaves in character details with artful sparingness, furtively dropping in essential bits of information and daring to leave a few question marks dangling."
Washington Post
4 stars out of 5 -- "Tense, touching and authentic, this is impeccable and compelling."
Empire
"[A] rum combination of black comedy and social drama....Catalina Saavedra gives an astonishingly complex performance..."
Sight and Sound