The Housemaid Film Synopsis

A paroled woman working as a live-in maid becomes entangled in her wealthy employer’s twisted marriage, discovering the husband’s sadistic control over his wife and becoming his next target until the abused women unite to end his torture and stage his death as accident.

A Desperate Position

Millie Calloway has recently been released on parole after serving time for manslaughter. Her criminal record makes finding legitimate employment nearly impossible, but her parole requirements mandate that she maintain stable work and housing. When Nina Winchester offers her a position as a live-in maid, Millie accepts despite the unusual circumstances. The job provides both income and a place to live, two essential requirements for remaining out of prison.

Nina’s family resides in an affluent home in Great Neck, Long Island. Her husband Andrew Winchester appears successful and respectable, while their daughter Cece attends private school and ballet lessons. The household’s wealth stands in stark contrast to Millie’s recent experience in the prison system. Nina assigns Millie an attic bedroom, but the room has a disturbing feature: the door locks from the outside rather than the inside, trapping anyone placed within.

When Millie introduces herself to the household staff, she meets Enzo, the groundskeeper who maintains the property’s extensive gardens and lawns. Enzo’s response to meeting Millie is cold and ominous. He tells her directly that she does not belong in this house, a warning that Millie does not fully understand but finds unsettling.

Erratic Behavior

Nina’s behavior as an employer proves immediately problematic. Her moods shift unpredictably between friendly and hostile, sometimes within the same conversation. She issues instructions to Millie, then contradicts those same orders hours or days later, accusing Millie of misunderstanding or deliberately defying her. Nina’s outbursts occasionally turn violent, with her throwing objects or screaming accusations at the bewildered maid.

Despite the hostile and unstable work environment, Millie remains desperate to keep her position. Her parole terms require stable employment, and losing this job could result in her return to prison. She endures Nina’s erratic treatment, hoping the situation will stabilize or that she can learn to anticipate Nina’s changing demands.

During her employment, Millie learns disturbing details about Nina’s history. Years before Millie’s arrival, Nina was institutionalized in a psychiatric facility. The commitment followed two incidents: Nina allegedly attempted to drown her daughter Cece in a bathtub, and later tried to kill herself by overdosing on medication. These revelations paint Nina as dangerously unstable, potentially violent toward both herself and her child.

Forbidden Romance

Nina instructs Millie to book tickets for a Broadway musical and reserve a hotel room for the Winchester family. Millie completes these tasks as directed, purchasing tickets and making the reservation. However, when Nina sees the confirmations, she denies ever asking Millie to make these arrangements and accuses her of acting without permission.

The situation takes an unexpected turn when Nina announces she will be taking Cece to ballet camp, leaving Andrew alone for the evening. Andrew suggests that he and Millie use the theater tickets and hotel reservation that have already been purchased. Millie agrees, and the two secretly attend the Broadway show together. Afterward, they enjoy dinner at an upscale restaurant before checking into the hotel room.

During the hotel stay, Millie receives numerous angry text messages from Nina. Andrew comforts Millie, reassuring her about her job security and her place in the household. Their emotional intimacy escalates into physical intimacy, and Millie and Andrew have sex. The affair represents a massive violation of professional boundaries and a betrayal of Nina, regardless of Nina’s difficult behavior.

When they return to the Winchester home, Millie discovers that Nina knows far more about her background than she initially revealed. Nina has learned that Millie spent ten years in prison for killing a male classmate in high school. The killing occurred after the classmate raped Millie, and her manslaughter conviction suggests either a plea bargain or a finding that her response exceeded legal self-defense boundaries.

Nina weaponizes this information by reporting Millie’s borrowed car as stolen, bringing police to the house to arrest her. Millie narrowly avoids arrest, but the incident demonstrates Nina’s willingness to use Millie’s vulnerable legal status against her.

The Broken Plate

Nina discovers a playbill from the Broadway musical in Andrew’s possession, providing physical evidence of his outing with Millie. She confronts Millie with threats and accusations, but Andrew intervenes. He defends Millie against his wife’s anger and demands that Nina leave the house. The confrontation marks an open break in the Winchester marriage, with Andrew publicly choosing Millie over his wife.

Andrew and Millie continue their romantic relationship openly within the household. Millie attempts to demonstrate her affection and domesticity by preparing Andrew’s breakfast and serving it on an heirloom china plate that belonged to Andrew’s mother. The plate holds sentimental value and is presumably both expensive and irreplaceable.

As Millie carries the plate through the house, she notices Enzo standing outside a doorway, watching her. His presence startles her, and in her surprised reaction, she drops the plate. The china shatters on the floor into twenty-one pieces, destroying the family heirloom.

Andrew responds to the broken plate by firing Enzo, blaming the groundskeeper for frightening Millie and causing the accident. He then comforts Millie, telling her not to worry about the broken heirloom. He instructs her to carefully pick up all the pieces and give them to him, explaining that he knows someone who can professionally repair the plate.

That evening, Andrew asks Millie why she did not wash the broken pieces before giving them to him. Millie explains that she was afraid of cutting herself on the sharp edges. Andrew’s response to this reasonable explanation is to bring Millie to the attic room, provide her with alcohol until she is intoxicated, and then lock her inside the room, trapping her.

Nina’s Truth

Nina picks up Cece from ballet camp, celebrating what she describes as her freedom from Andrew. During the drive, she gives Cece a letter explaining the truth about their family situation and Andrew’s abuse. The letter reveals a horrifying history that completely reframes the narrative Millie has been experiencing.

Nina met Andrew while raising Cece as a young single mother. They fell in love and married, but early in the marriage, Andrew revealed himself to be pathologically controlling. His abuse began with demands about Nina’s appearance. Andrew insisted that Nina dye her naturally brunette hair blonde. When Nina forgot to dye her hair on schedule, Andrew locked her in the attic room as punishment.

While Nina was imprisoned in the attic, Andrew demanded that she pull out one hundred hairs from her own scalp as penance for her forgetfulness. Nina complied, pulling the hairs and presenting them to Andrew. He counted them carefully and claimed that one hair was missing its follicle, making it invalid. He forced Nina to pull out one hundred additional hairs to replace the allegedly defective strand.

The torture escalated when Andrew drugged Nina and staged evidence suggesting she had attempted to murder Cece and commit suicide. The fabricated evidence resulted in Nina’s involuntary commitment to a psychiatric hospital. During her institutionalization and after her release, Andrew continued tormenting her with confinement in the attic room, using the threat of re-hospitalization to maintain control.

Nina told psychiatrists, doctors, and family members the truth about Andrew’s abuse, but no one believed her story. The only person who believed Nina was Enzo, the groundskeeper. Enzo unsuccessfully urged Nina to leave Andrew and escape the abusive marriage, but Nina felt trapped by Andrew’s wealth, his control over Cece, and the medical establishment’s belief that she was mentally ill.

Nina’s hiring of Millie was entirely deliberate. She researched Millie’s background, knowing about her manslaughter conviction and prison sentence. Nina understood that Andrew would inevitably seduce the new maid, creating an opportunity for Nina to escape the marriage. Nina also believed that Millie, having killed a rapist in self-defense, would be capable of protecting herself against Andrew’s violence.

Reversal and Revenge

In the attic room, Andrew presents Millie with a shard from the broken china plate. He explains her punishment for destroying his mother’s heirloom: she must cut her own stomach once for each of the twenty-one pieces of the plate. The torture is intended to physically mark her body as permanent evidence of her transgression.

Millie begins cutting herself with the china shard as Andrew watches, inflicting wounds across her stomach. However, Nina has secretly placed a cheese knife in the attic room for Millie to find. After inflicting some of the required cuts, Millie grabs the hidden knife and stabs Andrew, overpowering him and reversing their positions. She locks Andrew inside the attic room, trapping him as he had trapped both her and Nina.

Millie retrieves pliers and orders Andrew to pull out one of his front teeth with the tool. When he hesitates, she breaks additional pieces of china and threatens to set fire to the attic with him locked inside, burning him alive. Faced with this threat, Andrew complies, using the pliers to extract his own tooth in excruciating pain.

Cece suggests to Nina that they should save Millie from the attic. Nina sneaks back into the house and unlocks the attic door, believing Millie is still trapped inside. When she opens the door, Andrew attacks both Nina and Cece. Millie has apparently escaped from the attic, but she reappears during Andrew’s attack on his wife.

Andrew attempts to kill Nina after she refuses to resume their married life together and submit to his continued abuse. Millie intervenes by pushing Andrew off the staircase. He falls to his death on the floor below. Nina quickly drops a lightbulb near Andrew’s body, staging the scene to suggest he died while attempting to fix the chandelier and accidentally fell.

Aftermath

Police investigate Andrew Winchester’s death. A policewoman interviews Nina about the circumstances, noting inconsistencies in her account of the accident. However, the policewoman reveals that her sister was once engaged to Andrew. The sister’s relationship with Andrew exposed her to his true nature, and she broke off the engagement because of his controlling and abusive behavior. Understanding what Andrew was capable of and believing Nina’s story, the policewoman rules the death accidental.

After Andrew’s funeral, Nina prepares to leave the Winchester home and start a new life with Cece. Before departing, she writes Millie a check for one hundred thousand dollars, compensating her for the trauma she endured and her role in ending Andrew’s abuse. Nina also provides Millie with a new employment opportunity, recommending her housekeeping services to a friend.

Nina’s friend mentions during their conversation that her husband is abusive, hinting that she faces a situation similar to what Nina experienced with Andrew. Millie asks when she can start working for this new household, suggesting she is prepared to repeat the pattern: allowing an abusive husband to seduce her, then helping the wife escape by killing the abuser. Millie has found a purpose and a method, using her unique skills and willingness to commit violence to rescue women trapped in abusive marriages.