Cinema - WOW - The Maid (Cert. 15) 

WOW Wales One World Film Festival 9

Dir: Sebastian Silva

Chile 2008 1hr 35mins
Spanish with English subtitles Catalina Saavedra,
Claudia Celadon, Mariana Loyala

Funny, tense, and unpredictable, this is the tale of the grumpy, pig-headed Racquel, the maid-from-hell who has lived with the same family for 20 years. When her increasingly unreliable behaviour leads them to recruit a string of new servants to help her, Racquel sees them off by any means necessary. But when the latest recruit, the lovely Lucy, is genuinely kind to her, Racquel has to learn about something she's never known before - friendship and her own poignant need for human contact. Psychologically astute, The Maid slyly, sweetly overturns our expectations as Racquel (a riveting performance by Saavedra) gradually emerges as a complex, sympathetic character.

"Funny as Almodovar, creepy-strange as BuÒuel, and with a hopeful, humane heart to boot" Edinburgh International Film Festival

Winner of World Cinema Prize at Sundance Film Festival 2009