Abhiroop Das
Helmed by Paul Feig, ‘The Housemaid’ follows Millie Calloway, who is freshly out on parole and desperately looking for a job. Although she fears being blacklisted due to her past, Millie is taken by surprise when the wealthy Winchester family employs her as their house manager. Millie is quick to take the offer, but soon realizes that many subtle things about the house and its inhabitants don’t quite add up. Before long, she has to face Nina Winchester’s wrath on a daily basis and finds comfort in the presence of Nina’s husband, Andrew. Still, with each passing day, the job she once believed to be full of warmth and opportunities begins to suffocate her slowly, and Millie, backed into a corner, realizes that she must push back by any means necessary.
Throughout this psychological thriller movie, which is based on the eponymous novel by Freida McFadden, Millie’s elusive past, specifically her decade-long stint in prison, continues to be a source of mystery. However, within that timespan lies the key to unlocking the narrative as a whole, as well as Millie’s true purpose in it. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Millie Went Behind Bars For Killing a Sexual Assaulter
Towards the end of ‘The Housemaid,’ we learn that Millie was in prison for the murder of a wealthy student who was sexually assaulting her roommate in school, Kelsey. A flashback to 10 years ago reveals that Millie was originally a scholarship student in an elite academy, where she was constantly surrounded by peers who wore a facade of niceness. Reality hit her one day when she found one of the students forcing himself on Kelsey. Moving on instinct, Millie grabbed a paperweight and bashed it on his head numerous times, till he died. And though it was never her intention to kill him, the attack was interpreted as murder, and she was quickly branded as a criminal.
Although Millie’s actions were clearly an effort to save Kelsey, the latter denied being sexually assaulted following the boy’s death. By the time the police rolled in, no one, not even Millie’s parents, believed that she had acted to save her roommate. The fact that the boy came from a wealthy background also likely played a part in this, and with the odds stacked against her, Millie had no choice but to accept a plea deal for manslaughter. Following a court sentencing of 15 years, Millie spent the next decade behind bars before being let out on parole. However, even as she tried to rebuild her life, she was faced with more instances of sexual assaults happening to her friends and co-workers. With each attempt at putting a stop to these incidents, she was only met with resistance, and this is where her story intersects with Nina’s.
Millie’s Past Lays the Symbolic Foundation For Her Present
In many ways, Millie’s prison stint provides the clearest insight into the core of her character, contextualizing the direction she ultimately chooses. From the very start of her flashback segment, the parallels between the teen sexual assaulter and Andrew are self-evident, in that they both appear charming and courteous on the surface, but hide a monstrous self underneath. The fact that Andrew locks Millie in the attic is directly reminiscent of her time in prison, and is what compels her to fight back. Millie’s actions against the teen assaulter, as such, foreshadow how she pushes Andrew to his death, ending the cycle of violence. Notably, while Millie’s killing of the boy may be accidental, she doesn’t regret it in the slightest, indicating a clear moral anchor that finds a new expression in the present.
Nina’s role in the narrative also complements Millie’s arc from 10 years ago, especially in how it builds up to the movie’s ending. Just like Millie, Nina was also framed as a liar and forced into an institution against her will. While they have different means of overcoming their oppression, both Nina and Millie find themselves united against Andrew. In the past, Kelsey may have been pressured into denying her assault, but Nina, in the present, actively takes charge of her own life, showing that she stands on equal footing with Millie. To that end, the ending vindicates Millie as they seemingly become a vigilante duo of sorts, helping women like them escape their abusive husbands by any means possible.
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