Plot Overview and Character Setup
The Housemaid follows Millie Calloway, portrayed by Sydney Sweeney, a woman recently released from prison after serving time for manslaughter. Desperate for employment to satisfy her parole requirements, Millie accepts a live-in housekeeping position with the wealthy Winchester family despite red flags, including a suspicious attic bedroom that locks from the outside. The family appears perfect on the surface, but Millie quickly discovers that beneath their polished exterior lies a household built on psychological abuse and manipulation.
Nina Winchester, played by Amanda Seyfried, initially seems mentally unstable, with a history of suicide attempts and alleged harm toward her daughter. However, the film gradually reveals that Nina is a victim of her husband Andrew's systematic abuse. Andrew has been locking Nina in the attic for extended periods as punishment for trivial infractions, drugging her to frame suicide attempts, and manipulating her into false confessions at a psychiatric facility. Nina's hiring of Millie is not accidental but a calculated strategy to bring someone into the household who can help her escape Andrew's control.
Sydney Sweeney's Character and Backstory
Millie's past makes her uniquely suited for the role she unknowingly plays in the Winchester household. The film reveals that Millie was imprisoned for killing a boy at her boarding school after she caught him sexually assaulting her roommate. Despite acting in self-defense and protection of another person, no one believed her account—not even her parents—and she was branded a dangerous criminal. This history of violence in defense against predatory behavior becomes central to Nina's plan.
Living in her car and washing up in public restrooms before taking the housekeeping job, Millie represents a vulnerable woman seeking stability. However, her capacity for violence when confronted with abuse makes her the perfect instrument for Nina's liberation. As the narrative unfolds, Millie's protective instincts and willingness to use force against those who harm others position her as both victim and avenger within the Winchester household's dark dynamics.
Climax and Ending
The film's climax erupts when Andrew discovers Millie and Nina's connection and attempts to reassert control. He locks Millie in the attic and forces her to carve 21 lines into her body as punishment for broken china, mirroring the degradation he inflicted on Nina. When Andrew enters to release her, Millie fights back violently, stabbing him in the neck with a cheese knife before locking him in the room. Nina arrives to rescue Millie and, in the ensuing confrontation, Millie pushes Andrew over a spiral staircase railing, killing him.
To cover their tracks, Nina and Millie stage Andrew's death as an accident, with Nina dropping a lightbulb to suggest he was changing a fixture when he fell. The police investigation, led by a detective who is Andrew's ex-fiancée's sister, concludes it was accidental. The film ends with Nina giving Millie a $100,000 check and recommending her for another housemaid position. At the new job interview, Millie's potential employer reveals bruises indicating domestic abuse, suggesting that Millie's future role will be helping abused women escape their situations—a cycle of intervention and protection that extends beyond the Winchester household.