A portrait of two maids in a Chilean household

It’s not very often that movies explore the personal life of a maid.

Directed and co-written by Sebastian Silva, “The Maid” is an insightful film from Chile about Raquel (Catalina Saavedra), a reclusive, middle-aged housekeeper who rediscovers life through her friendship with Lucy (Mariana Loyola), an upbeat and playful newly-hired maid. Raquel and Lucy’s relationship is based on the relationship of two women who worked as maids for Silva’s family during his adolescence. “They [the maids] sort of collaborated somehow on the screenplay, and I collect stories from them, you know?” the Chilean filmmaker explained.

Saavedra gives a sensitive and moving performance as Raquel, skillfully combining humor and sorrow in her portrayal of the introverted heroine. Silva originally had Saavedra in mind for the role of Raquel, having worked with her on his first project—an animated film—in a difficult transition for the filmmaker. “It [‘The Maid’] had to portray reality,” explained Silva, “so, that was, for me, the biggest challenge because I’m a cartoonist, and my first film, it has nothing to do with this … in terms of form.”

The personal quality in “The Maid” might be due to its production—the filmmaker literally revisited his childhood household. Shot in sixteen days, “The Maid” was mostly filmed in the house in Santiago that the director actually lived in during his adolescence. “It’s where all—a lot of these scenes—that you saw in the film actually took place, so it felt really organic to shoot it there,” Silva described.

Silva admitted that Lucas, the family’s son and Raquel’s “favorite” of the family, is not based on his younger self. Rather, he relates more to the petulant Camila (Andrea Garcia-Huidobro), the daughter that clashes with Raquel. He pointed out that these characters are still fictional: “It’s not something that I wrote by myself, I wrote it with co-writer [Pedro Peirano], so there is a lot of fiction elements to the character as well and to the story.”

Silva did experience some remorse following his rebel phase: “I think I felt a little guilt mixed with pity towards the maid after feeling rebellious.” The movie is dedicated to the maids who had worked for Silva’s family, and the two women were the first to view the film. The director recalled the remarkable experience of watching the film with them, saying “I saw with them in living room and we, the three of us, watched the film together. And it was really touching. It was a beautiful experience ... there was a range of emotions while watching the film, but it was definitely a very therapeutic, positive experience for everybody.”