Metacritic Film

Live-In Maid

Starring Norma Aleandro, Norma Argentina, Marcos Mundstock, Claudia Lapacó, Elsa Berenguer, Monica Gonzaga, Hilda Bernard, and Susana Lanteri

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Aqua Films
Drama
83 minutes | Color
Argentina / Spain
Released In Theaters July 18, 2007

Dora (51) is the maid of Mrs. Beba (59) and has worked and lived with her for 35 years. Beba used to be a well-to-do socialite but successive economic and personal crises have worn her out, reducing her to a purveyor of decadence. Nowadays she finds herself forced to sell door-to-door beauty products. And she owes Dora six months of salary. Dora, tired of listening to Beba’s promises of payment, is now determined to resign. Beba asks her for more time to get the money together. Dora accepts. During this period Beba tries to mine the confidence of Dora, discouraging her not to venture into a new phase of her life. Though doomed by class prejudices and abusive power codes there is also a bond cemented by mutual love from three decades of living together. Finally, Beba gets the money to cancel the debt and offers some cash in advance to make her maid stay. But Dora has already made up her mind. (Aqua Films)

WRITTEN BY
Jorge Gaggero

DIRECTED BY
Jorge Gaggero

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

78 / 100

Critic Reviews

90	Village Voice Julia Wallace The result is a film of startling insight and grace.
90	Salon.com Pitch-perfect social comedy.
90	Los Angeles Times What Live-in Maid offers is a pitch-perfect observation of life on a continent where forms are adhered to, distances aren't really kept, and your best friend is the person who knows to pour the cheap domestic whiskey into the empty bottle of imported stuff before your bridge buddies show up to judge you.
83	Baltimore Sun Live-In Maid is a lived-in movie. Its cataclysms may be small in scale, but the movie brings us so far into these women's lives that a shattered cup creates an earthquake.
80	Washington Post A vivid portrait of a society in the midst of wrenching change, but it transcends its immediate context to become a thoughtful, even unforgettable, chamber piece, performed with exquisite subtlety by two fine actresses.
80	The Hollywood Reporter Powered by two first-rate performances, Jorge Gaggero's debut feature is full of psychological nuance and keen social observation.
80	The New York Times Modest in scope, but it feels complete, fully inhabited, in a way that more overtly ambitious movies rarely do.
75	New York Daily News Weary and overworked to her very bones, Dora nevertheless has a heart of gold and a spine of steel. The movie does, too.
75	New York Post Low-key yet has a lot to say about class struggle.
75	San Francisco Chronicle Steve Winn A modest chamber piece enriched by its affecting human harmonies and overtones.
75	Boston Globe Quite easily Live-in Maid could have descended into a kind of Joan Crawford-Bette Davis gorgon salute. But everyone here seems way too smart for that, though apparently the movie is being prepped for an English-language version. So beware.
70	Wall Street Journal A fine Argentinean film with English subtitles.
70	Variety A fairly successful attempt at satire, though given the subject, there's a lot of darkness under the carpet.
67	The Onion (A.V. Club) Live-In Maid's premise would be ideal for a play, or a bravura performance piece like Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant."

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