La nana

The young and versatile film maker Sebastian Silva (1979) seems to have found his feet. After studying film (in Chile) and animation (in Montréal) and having made several records as a musician, his first feature La vida me mata (2007) was regarded by Chilean film critics as the best of the year. One year later we already have The Maid, a tragicomic study of a Chilean servant. After 23 years of faithful service, she cannot accept the fact that the family for whom she’s always been the only employee now takes on an extra servant.
Raquel is shy, surly and stubborn, but also loyal, precise and calm. She has become so entrenched in the household of her affluent bosses and their four spoilt children that she has acquired special rights. Whenever she falls ill and a second servant is brought into the house, Raquel usually manages to make life so difficult for her that she leaves again quickly .
Silva films with a great sense of understatement the stubborn resistance of a woman whose work has become her personality. Even Raquel, whose only intimate contacts are brief telephone conversations with her mother, is unable to combat the uncomplicated charm offensive of the new colleague Lucy. But even blossoming friendship brings dangers with it. (GT)

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