Freida McFadden’s ‘The Housemaid’ was adapted into film which released in December 2025. It is now available on Prime Video.
I knew after watching the movie that I have to read the book as well. The movie is pretty good but there are some major details in the book that the movie left out.
The first half of the movie aligns pretty well with the book. Millie is a young woman who has spent the last ten years of her life in prison. She is living in her car and is desperate for a job and a place to live. So when Nina Winchester offers her a job as a live in maid in her beautiful house, she is ecstatic. The Winchesters are extremely wealthy and the job seems too good to be true. But soon she will find that this job is far from perfect.
Nina’s husband Andrew appears to be a saint. He takes care of Nina who is on medication for acute psychosis and is a good father to their daughter Cecilia, who is not biologically his. Andy is too good for Nina, that’s what everyone thinks. But the truth could not be further than this.
Now let’s compare the book with the movie:
Nina’s character
Amanda Seyfried’s Nina is much more attractive than the book one. In the movie, she just looks psychotic and dishevelled. But in the book, she has deliberately let herself go in all the years. Millie notices her double chin and that she must be at least a size fourteen. There is a stark contrast between how she looks today and how looked when she and Andrew first met. We know that it is all deliberate and she is doing it on purpose. Andrew takes great care of his appearance and she knows this will be a turn-off for him.
Seyfried portrayed her character exceptionally well in the movie. I think she carried this movie on her shoulders, not that Brendan Sklenar’s Andrew was any less marvellous. But Amanda Seyfried has outshone all of her fellow cast members.
Andrew’s torture
Andrew Winchester’s methods of torture are much more brutal in the movie than in the books. It is not to say he is any less of a monster in the books. In fact, Nina’s torture is much more elaborate in the book than in the movie. It is only that in the books, his torture is more psychological than violent.
In the movie, when he locks Millie up in the attic, it is because she broke his mother’s plate so now he wants her to make 21 long cuts on her stomach with the broken pieces of the plate. In the book, Millie just doesn’t put his books back on the shelf so he asks her to keep 3 heavy books on her stomach for three hours. She removes them a minute early so now she has to start from the beginning. The punishment in the book is less bloody and more harmful psychologically.
Enzo’s role
Michele Morrone was barely given 10 seconds of screen time and I think it’s unfair to both the character and the actor as well. Apart from a couple of shots, Enzo has no presence in the film. His character doesn’t have a purpose. He is just there.
In the books, his character has a lot of depth and purpose. He is the only one who knows what is happening with Nina and tries to do every possible thing he can to help her. He even provides her with fake passports, fake identity and cash. He is even prepared to kill Andrew if Nina will tell him to.
Although it is completely absent in the movie, we do see a romantic connection between Nina and Enzo in book although ishort-lived.
Millie’s character
Sydney Sweeney’s Millie feels a bit mellow as compared to the book. Although she does a fine job as Millie, but I feel the book Millie had a lot of fire in her which seems missing in the movie. The parts about her past are not elaborated as much and we don’t get a lot of insight into her character.
Final Verdict- The book I think is obviously better. But the movie has also done a fine job. Even with some major parts cut, the message is conveyed effectively and it doesn’t interfere with the overall impact of the movie. Amanda Seyfried and Brendan Sklenar have done exceptionally well through their characters. This movie is pretty good as compared to some other book to film adaptations out there.
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