Raquel has been the live-in Maid at the home of a
wealthy middle class family in Santiago, Chile for the past 20 years. Pilar, her very p.c. employer insists on
claiming that Raquel is one of the family, but she’s obviously not. In the opening sequence we see everyone
somewhat reluctantly celebrating her birthday in the dining room, before she
shuffles back to the kitchen in her uniform to wash the dishes as usual. Raquel runs the household from the time she
wakes up at sunrise, unto all are in bed at night and along the way she has not
only got quite entrenched in her ways, but quite bitter too. Several attempts to impose new maids on her
to lighten her load and loosen her grip are sabotaged by Raquel, until
eventually Lucy comes along and there is finally someone in the house who
‘gets’ her..jpeg)
This wee gem of a movie that was a big hit at
Sundance in 2008 and went on to pick up even more Awards and a Golden Globe Nomination was billed as a drama, and is actually quite deep and dark. I must
admit with her stoic expressionless face throughout Catalina Saavedra in a delightful wonderful performance as Raquel had
me laughing loudly at times too. But
then again I’ve never been nice to my maids before … but I think I will from
now on.
