Miss Flicks

The Housemaid ending: The differences between the film and the book

Paul Feig and his actors Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar have been working hard to protect the secrets and the twists in The Housemaid, even though Freida McFadden‘s best-selling novel has sold millions of copies, meaning many people – especially the film’s core audience – already know what’s coming.

While the majority of the film sticks very closely to the book, it diverges from the source material significantly in the final third, before doing something totally different entirely, so readers can still enjoy some surprises too.

Here, I unpack the differences between the book and film from the moment where the perspective changes from the housemaid Millie (Sweeney) to her employer Nina Winchester (Seyfried). This is a pivotal moment in the book and where things start to look a little different in the film. Needless to say: SPOILERS AHEAD.

Nina’s story

In the book, the exciting present-day action in the house stops so we can learn about how Nina met Andrew (Sklenar), why she hired Millie etc. It’s a chunky section (around 80 pages long) and written like a how-to guide: “How to Get Rid of Your Sadistic, Evil Husband – A Guide by Nina Winchester”, with multiple steps that eventually bring us back to the present day. This really kills the momentum of the main story, so understandably, the film’s screenwriter Rebecca Sonnenshine decided to whittle it down to the bare bones and give us the abridged version. It’s essentially like a long montage sequence covering their history with narration framing it as a letter from Nina to her daughter Cecelia (Indiana Elle). The gardener Enzo (Michele Morrone) has more of a role in the book as he helps with an escape plan and offers to kill Andrew, and they have sex in a hotel after she’s kicked out of the house. In the film, his contributions are so limited that they barely even register.

The punishments

Through Nina’s story, we learn that Andrew is abusive and frequently locked her in the attic room (Millie’s bedroom) for hours to punish her for minor issues like forgetting to sort out the roots of her hair. In both the book and the film, he makes her pull out 100 perfectly intact hairs and place them in an envelope. After he lets her out, he drugs her and stages an incident where it looks like she was trying to drown Cecilia in the bathtub, and the police take her to a psychiatric hospital, where she stays for several months. The punishments continue after her release, she goes back to the ward, and Andrew foils her escape plan so she comes up with the housemaid idea.

The story becomes quite different from Millie’s first punishment. In the novel, she is punished because she leaves books out and is forced to lie on the hard floor and balance three heavy hardcover textbooks on her stomach for three hours (and she has to do it twice). In the film, Andrew locks her in the attic for smashing one of his family’s prized plates and not cleaning the 21 pieces before putting them in a bag. For her punishment, Millie is made to cut 21 deep gashes into her stomach with a piece of the plate. This huge difference makes total sense as it’s more visceral, visual, thrilling and gory – it feels more like sadistic Saw-style torture than the uncomfy book-balancing punishment.

Before her exit, Nina left something in the attic pee bucket to help Millie – in the book, it’s pepper spray, and in the film, it’s a cake knife. This is much more violent and cinematic. Millie stabs him in the neck and dashes out of the room and locks the door, leaving Andrew in there. In the film, she smashes his prized family dishes at the door, pours gasoline under it and then forces him to pull out a tooth with pliers otherwise she’ll light the match. It’s substantially bleaker in the novel. Millie makes him do the same book punishment – but for eight hours and balanced on his privates – and pull out four teeth. She then leaves him in there for days without water and he dies of dehydration. Told you it was nasty!

Nina’s return

When Nina has a change of heart and goes back to the house to save Millie (Enzo convinces her to do this in the book, but it’s Cecelia here), this is where the film becomes its own thing. In the novel, Nina unlocks the attic door and discovers Andrew’s dead body and Millie comes in and realises what she’s done. Nina offers to take the fall for Andrew’s death and pretend Millie had the week off so the young girl doesn’t go back to prison. Millie runs off and Nina calls the police, telling them that Andrew accidentally locked himself in the attic and died of dehydration. The story doesn’t remotely add up – how is that possible if it locks from the outside? And what about the missing teeth and the bruising?! But the officer rules it an accident because he suspects Andrew did something to his daughter Kathleen when they were engaged.

Now, in the film, this is where all hell breaks loose. When Nina opens the attic door, a very much alive Andrew storms out and pushes her down the stairs. He then chases Millie down the main staircase and tries to strangle her, but she punches him several times in the throat and runs out of the front door. Andrew tries to find her but gives up and goes back inside. He confronts Nina on the landing at the top of the spiral staircase (this house has three different sets of stairs), apologises and begs for her forgiveness. She says she’d rather die than be with him and he launches himself at her, but Millie appears and pushes him over the railing and he falls to his death. Nina unscrews a lightbulb from the chandelier and lets it fall, making the scene look like an accident. The police officer notes that his neck wound and missing tooth aren’t consistent with a fall, but she brushes it off because she’s Kathleen’s sister.

I totally understand why they made this change – it’s thrilling, cinematic and there’s more action. But it also makes Millie more of a sympathetic person. Compared to her character in the novel, the film version of Millie isn’t as sadistic or psychotic and doesn’t outdo Andrew’s level of depravity. She still kills him, but in a heroic way, as she’s saving Nina.

The funeral

The book and the film both have two scenes after Andrew’s death. At his funeral, his mother Evelyn (Elizabeth Perkins, giving Miranda Priestly ice queen vibes) reveals that she used to punish Andrew as well. In the book, during a private indoor conversation with Nina, she divulges that she pulled out one of his baby teeth with pliers. In the film, she is much more subtle about the reveal as she’s speaking outside in front of a line of mourners.

In the book, Nina and Millie don’t see each other again after Andrew’s death or have much contact, except Nina once texts Millie a selfie of her and Cecilia on the beach in California (where they live) and thanks her. She also recommends her for housekeeping jobs. In the film, Millie is secretly at the funeral, and they hug, and Nina gives her a cheque for $100,000 before they part ways.

The final scene

I’ve seen non-readers complain that The Housemaid has so many endings, and I can see where they’re coming from. However, that’s how it is in the book, so I was prepared for all of them (except Andrew’s new death!)

The final scene is basically identical, with Millie going for a job interview for another housemaid position. She has been recommended by Nina, and it’s clear that the new lady also wants Millie to help with her abusive husband.

What a crazy, wild, fun ride that was! What did you think about the changes?

Read my full review of The Housemaid here. In cinemas now.