One thing people don’t giveBong Joon Hoenough credit for is howhe can seamlessly weave horror elements into his films that reside comfortably with all the other genres at play.The Hostcan be a pretty mean monster movie when it isn’t a dysfunctional family comedy, andSnowpiercerandOkjaboth ramp up the scares to drive home their sharpest anticapitalist barbs. Bong can attribute that dexterity to his deep knowledge of the Korean cinema he grew up watching, most notably a twisted cult classic calledThe Housemaid, which has been a major inspiration to Bong. This is most evident in his 2019 Best Picture winner and masterwork,Parasite.
What Is ‘The Housemaid’ About?
Mr. Kim (Kim Jin-kyu) is an upper-middle-classpiano teacherwho has just moved into a lavish two-floor house with his wife, Mrs. Kim (Ju Jeung-ryu), and their two young kids. Feeling the combined pressure of his modest teacher and tutor salaries and his wife’s exhaustion at spending her time cleaning and running her dressmaking business,he feels the need to hirea housemaidto do the majority of the chores. A student of his brings an ideal candidate, Myung-sook (Lee Eun-shim), a lower-class factory worker who jumped at the chance once she learned how much money she’d get paid per month.However, Kim isn’t ready for what a terrible idea this will become, asMyung-sook causes chaos for the entire household due to her unquenchable sexual desire for Mr. Kim, leading to a psychosexual and socioeconomic war that will destroy everyone. This all sounds like the stuff of Greek tragedy and the morality plays ofOscar Wilde, but that undersells how much funThe Housemaidcan be, due toits ceaseless juggling of disparate tones that sends the plot into a hysterical overdrive.
‘The Housemaid’ Is Very Similar to Bong Joon Ho’s ‘Parasite’
The Housemaidisn’t one film so much asit’s a full buffet of genres and modes that rotate in and out like dishes on a conveyor belt. Myung-sook’s increasingly violent actions and sudden jump scare appearances frame her as a monster out ofthe Universal classic horror films. The domestic scenes between the family before things go awry have the tenderness ofaYasujirō Ozufilm, but with more refined camera moves that squeeze tension out of setups. The way the film frames its most insane arguments and setpieces at a heated fever pitch and uses the home’s architecture to exaggerate the characters' relations to each other fits right in withDouglas Sirkmelodramas.
It’s that combination of genres with the focus on the underlying economic motivations of everyone’s actionsthat appealed most directly to Bong Joon-Ho’s sensibilities. It’s no wonderBong is so quick to recommend the movieas one of Korean cinema’s best, as he confirms the similarities between it andParasite.He also spoke to the Criterion Collection on the movie’s influence; “It’s a crime melodrama that deals with women’s sexual desires as well as a political and social commentary on Korean society at the time and the changing social class. I think it did a great job of depicting that.”
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Prepare to be disturbed.
Both revolve around the plot point of a lower-class outsider trying to disrupt an upper-class person’s home. The use of stairways is also of note, as bothThe HousemaidandParasitehighlight stairways as both a visual metaphor for the distance between the highs and lows of the economic ladder and as an ideal centerpiece for the more shocking developments of their respective plots. Bong also noted to Criterion how having a two-story house in Korea at this time was a symbol of wealth and social status, saying “The stairs are as important as the characters in this film — what the stairs symbolize. A couple trying to make it to the upper middle class.” But other films weren’t the only inspiration forParasite,as Bong cited a tragic real-life murder that he felt spoke to the same economic stress and shock that he was trying to convey.
‘Parasite’ Was Inspired By a Real Crime
When talking to Vultureabout why he endedParasitethe way he did, Bong discussed his empathy for those who fight to change society, andhe made a passing reference tothe Papin sisters. Christine Papin and Léa Papin were two maids who worked for a rich family known as the Lancelins. The monsieur had been out of the house for the evening, and when he returned,he found his wife and daughterdead on the floor, covered in blood and their eyeballs torn from the sockets. The sisters were found in a nearby locked room, lying on the floor witha bloody hammer, andthey immediately admitted guilt and turned themselves in.
Their shared refusal to explain their actions in any way led to rampant speculation, with philosophizers and reporters throwing out theories ranging from economic jealousy to sexual repression to mental illness. Whatever the case may be,it’s easy to see why Bong Joon Ho would connect such a shocking true crime to the meat of the narrative ofParasite, especially considering that film’s shocking ending where righteous violence is enacted upon the upper-class family. Be that as it may, understanding the numerous complexities ofParasitewill be a little bit easier to do after you giveThe Housemaida watch and you see how long Korean cinema has been exposing the evils of capitalist infrastructure.
The Housemaid
