Bestselling psychological thriller, The Housemaid by Freida McFadden, was recently adapted into a top-grossing film starring renowned actresses, Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried. The protagonist of the tale is Millie, a young woman with a troubled past who accepts a job as a housemaid for the wealthy Winchester family. The job sounds perfect: living in a mini-mansion with an ideal family of three, working for a man who’s easy on the eyes. Except as Millie’s time at the Winchester home extends, she discovers the true dark secrets of this seemingly perfect family and becomes entangled in a twisted mess. The overarching plot of this novel was captivating, thrilling, and, overall, a great story. However, just like with seemingly all movie adaptations of books, the novel and movie differ, leaving audiences debating which was better: the book or the movie? (Warning to the reader: spoilers are included)

In my opinion, the book is always better than the movie–end of story. The difficult part of making a book into a movie is time. If you include all of the little details that make the book exemplary, the movie would be hours long. Deciding what to include is a key factor in determining the quality of the book to movie adaptation.

“The Housemaid” movie disappointed me in this aspect. My main critique is that the setup for the plot twist was very rushed. Andrew Winchester’s “kindness” and “perfection” in the book were perfectly set up by McFadden, leaving the reader to believe that he was genuinely a good guy who deserves Millie. In the movie, however, his personality was off-putting and unrealistic from the start, making him a more suspicious character. I went to the movie with a friend who didn’t read the book, and after two minutes of Andrew being on the screen, he predicted, “That’s the bad guy, right?” 

I was  also upset by the insignificance of Enzo’s character in the movie. He’s supposed to be a foil to Andrew through his support and kindness towards Nina and her abusive relationship with Andrew. Instead, he was irrelevant, and the movie could have been done without him. 

Another challenging aspect of a book to movie adaption is the personal connection a reader makes with a book. When readers read a book for the first time, they imagine the details of the characters and setting in their own unique  ways. Regardless of how descriptive an author is, people will still imagine the characters differently based on their background and past experiences. Concerning The Housemaid, I thought Amanda Seyfried did an excellent job playing the housewife Nina; however, Nina is strategically overweight in the book, which holds significant meaning. Seyfried did not fit this description and was an unrealistic portrayal of Nina. At the same time, Sydney Sweeney was the perfect Millie, and Brandon Sklenar was exactly how I imagined Andrew.

Even though I think the book version of The Housemaid triumphs over the movie, I would gladly watch the movie over again and recommend it to a friend. The directors changed the ending in the movie, but I thought it made the film more action-packed and put the viewer on their toes. I also thought the Winchester House was a beautiful setting, and the movie portrayed it very well–especially with the stairs leading up to the attic. 

The Housemaid is a fantastic and compelling story that was beautifully written and developed into a remarkable film. Though as a person and a devoted reader I would always choose the book over the movie, I have to acknowledge that watching the story on screen was a “privilege.”