SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for plot points from “The Housemaid”, in theaters now.
For fans of Freida McFadden’s thriller novel “The Housemaid,” watching the Lionsgate adaptation was a bit of a different experience — we went into it knowing the twist. Even though many of the most important moments from the book were depicted in the film, not everything is the same. In fact, one scenario was a lot smaller in the film than in the book.
“The Housemaid” follows a young woman, Millie (Sydney Sweeney), who has a dark past and is desperate for work; she enthusiastically accepts the position of live-in housekeeper for a wealthy family, Nina and Andrew Winchester (Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar). Soon, she discovers that their seemingly perfect life is far from it.
The book is divided into two perspectives: first Millie’s, then Nina’s. From Millie’s point of view, Nina is the villain, a harsh and mentally unstable wife and mother while Andrew does everything to keep her happy. From the community, Millie learns that Nina attempted suicide after leaving her daughter to die in the bathtub. Luckily, her beloved husband Andrew called the police just in time and Nina was hospitalized. This is the man who chose to stay with her and take care of her.
Brandon Sklenar as Andrew Winchester and Amanda Seyfried as Nina Winchester
Daniel McFadden/Lionsgate
In the second half of the book and film, Nina’s point of view reveals what really happened: shortly after she married Andrew, he began abusing her and locking her in the attic without food, torturing her. He once drugged her and she woke up in the bathroom to find her daughter in the bathtub – and the police taking her away. From then on, he continued to punish her and threatened to have her taken away again if she didn’t stay. She decided to hire Millie so she could escape – she knew he would cheat – but also because of Millie’s past. Millie spent 10 years in prison for murdering a man who attacked a friend – so she could shoot him.
Below, Variety describes some of the biggest changes from the book and film, including this ending.
Andrew’s torture of Millie
In both the film and the book, Millie begins to piece together what happened after Andrew locked her in the attic, beginning to torment her. But in the book, he forces Millie to painfully balance three large books on her stomach for hours. He sets up a camera to watch and when she doesn’t do it right the first time, he makes her do it again.
In the film, the scene is more violent. Since she is locked in the attic for accidentally breaking some old dishes, he orders her, using a piece of plate, to cut 21 deep cuts in his stomach.
Andrew’s torture by Millie
In the book, Millie then mocks Andrew and gives him a taste of his own medicine, asking him to balance the same three books on his groin, then asks him to pull out his teeth with pliers.
In the film, after being freed, Millie uses the knife Nina hid inside to slit Andrew’s throat and lock him in the room. As he bleeds, she breaks more of her mother’s china at the door and asks him to pull out his front tooth because he has convinced too many people that he is a good person with that perfect smile.
Andrew’s death
In the book, the gardener, Enzo (who knew what happened to Nina and stayed in the field to try to help), convinced Nina to return to the house to save Millie. When she does, she finds Andrew in the attic, starving to death.
The film gets a little darker; It is Nina’s daughter who convinces her to go back and help Millie, but when she returns to the attic, she opens the door assuming Millie is locked inside. Instead, Andrew is alive and charging, trying to attack both Nina and Millie; Finally, he begs Nina to give him another chance, giving her the opportunity to tell him how horrible he is. Eventually, Millie pushes him over their spiral staircase where he falls to a violent death.
The end
A police officer questions Nina in the book, revealing that her daughter once had a relationship with Andrew. In the film, it is a policewoman who carries out the interrogation before revealing that his sister was in a relationship with him. Since they both knew the harm he had caused, they believed his death to be an accident.
At the end of the book, Millie teams up with Enzo to form a group to help women who are victims of abusive relationships. This doesn’t exist in the film, but the flashback to a year later is the same: she’s interviewing for a new position at the home of an abused woman named Nina. Was she hired to kill him? Maybe.
Michele Morrone as Enzo
Daniel McFadden/Lionsgate
Enzo’s patricipation
Overall, it is important to note that in the book, the family gardener Enzo plays a much larger role in the story, trying to help Nina escape several times and ultimately, helping her come up with a plan to hire a new woman to distract Andrew. Millie makes a move on him one day, knowing it would be smarter than going after Andrew, a married man. He refuses her.
After his escape, Nina and Enzo spend a night together. Finally, he tells her that it’s not right to leave Millie in danger with Andrew. Later, he calls her to warn her that the attic light is on and that Millie hasn’t been seen in days, encouraging Nina to come see her. She agrees to do so on the condition that he protects his daughter; that’s exactly what he does.
In the film, the character, played by Michele Morrone, was barely part of the story. It’s ultimately clear that he helped Nina try to escape, but he’s more of a background character than a key part of the film.
If more films come out and stay close to the story told in the books, Enzo will be back – and not in a small way.
