The Housemaid

The Housemaid (1960)

Genres - Mystery, Drama, Romance, Thriller  |   Sub-Genres - Melodrama, Psychological Thriller  |   Release Date - Nov 3, 1960 (USA - Unknown)  |   Run Time - 108 min.  |   Countries - Korea, South  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Mark Deming

Kim Ki-Young directed this suspenseful and disturbing tale of obsession and guilt. Dong-sik (Kim Jin-kyu) is a music teacher whose wife (Ju Jeung-ryu) is expecting a baby. The couple already has two children, and Dong-sik is having trouble covering the bills now that they've moved into a bigger house at his wife's insistence. Hoping to make things easier for his spouse, Dong-sik hires a young woman (Lee Eun-shim) to help with the household chores. However, the new housekeeper has a secret -- she was a close friend of a woman who lost her job and then her life as a result of Dong-sik's betrayal of a confidence. Soon the new housekeeper is using her sensual wiles to lure Dong-sik into infidelity and wrecking her revenge against him and his loved ones. Hanyo (aka The Housemaid) was a major box-office success in Korea upon its first release, but later fell out of circulation in the 1970s; the film was restored with the help of the Korean Film Archive and the new print made its U.S. debut at the American Film Institute's 2010 AFI Fest.

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Keywords

guilt, housekeeper, music-teacher, obsession