Search The Archive

Search the film archive

"Part of the pleasure of this unassuming movie is how Mr Silva plays with our expectations … [he] likes to throw you off the scent, tossing in nervous and comic diversions." – New York Times

Raquel has worked in service to the Valdes family for 23 years; to help ease her workload they hire extra help, although this only needles Raquel's paranoia and fenced-in fragility.

An engrossing character study of a woman deluded by servitude into thinking that she's one of the family, The Maid is also a clever commentary on class in Latin American society. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize and Special Jury Prize for acting (Catalina Saavedra) at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, it first screened to much praise at MIFF in that same year.

"As Raquel, Catalina Saavedra gives a layered performance that's truly striking ... [while] Silva creates an uneasy yet sometimes humorous tone that threatens at any moment to veer into Chabrol territory." – Film Comment

Find out more about the Talking Pictures panel event related to this screening.