Why is “The Housemaid” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “strong/bloody violent content, sexual assault, sexual content, nudity and language.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a sexual assault, several sex scenes with nudity, an implied sex scene, some kissing scenes, a death by falling over a railing, a near drowning of a child, people being forced to harm themselves as punishment, discussions of a house fire that killed a man and a woman, discussions of unwanted pregnancy, discussions of infidelity, discussions of psychoses and medications, many arguments and scenes of yelling and breaking objects, and over 50 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A woman (Sydney Sweeney) accepts a job as a housemaid from a wealthy woman (Amanda Seyfried) to take care of her home and family not knowing the dark secrets she is about to encounter. Also with Brandon Sklenar, Elizabeth Perkins, Michele Morrone, Megan Ferguson, Indiana Elle and Hannah Cruz. Directed by Paul Feig. [Running Time: 2:11]

The Housemaid SEX/NUDITY 7

 – A young man thrusts (we see his bare buttocks) on a young woman while pressing his hand over her mouth (implying sexual assault; please see the Violence/Gore category for more details).
► A woman cries and a married man dries her eyes, they kiss, he takes off her dress (her bare breasts, abdomen, buttocks and back are seen), he takes off his shirt (his bare chest, abdomen and back are seen), they continue to kiss and he lies her on the bed where he thrusts; they then stand against a window kissing and thrusting, and they later lie in bed together. A man and a woman kiss and have sex in several scenes with bare buttocks, abdomens, breasts, chests and backs visible (genitals are in shadow or obscured by legs). A man carries a woman to an attic room where they drink champagne, kiss and sex is implied (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details).
► A woman wakes up from a dream where a married man caresses her face and they kiss. A husband and his wife kiss tenderly. A woman creeps through a house at night and watches television in a common area where a man joins her, they talk and he seems to be flirting with her, touching her bare leg; his wife enters the room, becomes upset and tells him to go to bed because it is late. A married man and a woman dance in a restaurant bar and embrace. A married man and a woman go to a theater performance together, they then go to a restaurant and drink cocktails, are unable to drive home and go to a hotel.
► A man invites a woman to join him and his daughter for dinner and she declines the invitation. Several women talk about how attractive a man is and that he is a “… saint, a hot saint.” A woman talks about becoming pregnant by a married professor while in law school. A woman says that she is pregnant but she hasn’t told her husband. A woman says that she is going to a fertility specialist. A woman tells another woman to stay away from her husband.
► A woman wears a towel wrapped around her after showering (we see her bare shoulders and cleavage) and a man sees her and leaves quickly apologizing. A woman wears a tank T-shirt that reveals her bare abdomen and cleavage in several scenes. A woman sponge bathes in a public restroom in a few scenes and we see her bare abdomen and cleavage. A man wears a tank T-shirt that reveals partial chest and shoulders in several scenes. A woman lactates, we see stains on her blouse, and we then see her pumping her breasts into bottles for her infant (her bare breasts are seen).

The Housemaid VIOLENCE/GORE 8

 – A character tumbles over a railing slamming into railings while falling to the floor below and lies motionless as blood pools on the floor.
► A woman is locked in an attic room and told to cut 21 slashes on her abdomen using a piece of broken china and when she does, we see the open wounds and a lot of blood. A man is locked in an attic room and told to pull out his front tooth with a pair of pliers; he pulls out the tooth and we see blood as he yells in pain (his mouth and shirt are very bloody).
► A woman stabs a man in the neck and blood spurts from the wound, he grabs her and she struggles before getting away from him and locking him in a room. A young woman hits a young man in the back of the head several times with a heavy object killing him (we hear crunching and see blood splatter). A young woman hits a man in the head with a bottle in a bar when the man touches another young woman. A man lunges toward a woman, grabs her and throws her down a flight of stairs (she has a bloody wound on her head and a bloody nose later); he grabs another woman and chokes her, and she punches him.
► A woman wakes up from having been drugged and finds her young daughter in a tub of water; she screams and is taken away by police accused of trying to kill the child. A man carries a woman to an attic room where they drink champagne and kiss and she wakes up in an empty room with the door locked; when she yells for the man, he tells her from the other side of the door that she must cut slashes on her abdomen as a consequence of something that she did. A woman is locked in an attic room and is told that she must pull out 100 hairs from her head before she will be let out; the woman plucks the hairs and is told to do it again because one hair did not have a follicle. A woman pours gasoline outside a locked room and lights a match as a man inside pleads for her to stop (she puts out the match).
► A woman hears a man and a woman arguing and glass breaking behind a closed door; she pounds on the door and the woman opens the door holding a bloody shard of broken mirror (we see her wearing a bandage on her hand for several scenes). Police push a woman against a car and handcuff her accusing her of stealing a car. A woman slaps another woman in the face and squeezes her cheeks as she is leaving.
► A man tells a woman that he is going to kill her. A husband yells at his wife and tells her to leave. A woman yells at another woman for buying expensive theater tickets and making a reservation at an expensive hotel when she and her husband would not be able to use them. A woman yells and throws things around a kitchen breaking dishes and throwing food on the floor accusing another woman of throwing away important papers she left on the counter; the woman falls to her knees crying and her husband consoles her. A woman tells another woman that her employer tried to drown her young child and then kill herself, and was sent to a mental health facility. A husband tells his wife that she needs to have her roots touched up and reminds her again later. A woman says that she felt trapped in her marriage. A woman describes her husband’s need to be adored.
► A woman asks another woman if she learned to cook in prison. A woman tells another woman that she needs to leave and that her employment with her is not working out. A woman tells another woman that she ruined her whole day when she thinks she threw away some important papers. A woman tells another woman that she didn’t need to make a scene when picking up her daughter. Several women complain about their housemaids and nannies. We hear that a woman has five years left on her prison sentence. We hear that a woman’s parents died in a house fire when she was young and that she was suspected of starting it. A woman tells another woman that by using the phone that her employer gave her, she can be tracked and monitored. A husband tells his wife that she is imagining things again. A woman tells a man, “Everything you have is a lie.” A woman talks about being clumsy and thinking that she will one day fall down the tall spiral staircase in her home.
► A woman drops a tray of expensive china dishes on the floor and they shatter. A woman wakes up in a panic realizing that she is late to start her work and has to pull on her door repeatedly to open it. A woman sleeps in her car in a few scenes and she is awakened by police knocking at her window and they tell her she must leave. A woman finds that her attic room locks from the outside and that the only window in the room does not open. A woman tells herself, “Don’t blow up your life.” People gather at a funeral and we see a young girl while we hear that she grows up in foster care. A woman says, “My husband is a hard man to please” as she lifts a knife out of a kitchen knife block and lets it fall back into place.
► A woman goes to a house where she has been employed as a live-in housemaid and finds the house in disarray. A woman is diagnosed with premature ovarian insufficiency. A woman lactates and we see stains on her blouse; men in a conference room tease her.
► A woman is shown sitting on a bucket in a closet that we hear is used as a toilet in a couple of scenes. A young girl tells a woman that her car smells like feet.

The Housemaid LANGUAGE 10

 – About 52 F-words and its derivatives, 3 obscene hand gestures, 2 sexual references, 17 scatological terms, 4 anatomical terms, 6 mild obscenities, name-calling (klutz, legit, psycho mom, stupid, vultures, creepy, clown [anatomical term deleted], helpless, toxic spell, creeps, freak, stupid, careless child, psychopath, unfit, unhinged, evil, sadistic monster, guinea pig, silly goose, pumpkin, boring, crazy, selfish, fragile, monsters), exclamations (wow, oh well, get out, ew, forget it, freaking out, oh my goodness), 1 religious profanity (GD), 15 religious exclamations (e.g. oh God, oh my God, Jesus Christ, God’s plan, God no, God’s power, God’s love). | profanity glossary |

The Housemaid SUBSTANCE USE

 – A woman finds medications for psychoses in a medicine cabinet, we see antipsychotic and antidepressant medications in a medicine cabinet, and a woman drinks from a bottle of water that has apparently been drugged. A man and a woman drink Martinis with a meal, a man and a woman drink a bottle of champagne, a woman drinks a bottle of champagne and falls asleep, and a woman drinks from a bottle of champagne. A woman smokes a cigarette in a bathroom.

The Housemaid DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Wealth, superiority, prenuptial agreements, mental health issues, manifesting, privilege, disappointment, embarrassment, unplanned pregnancy, ambition, abandonment, self-esteem, foster homes, consequences, cruelty, Barry Lyndon, nepotism, fertility issues.

The Housemaid MESSAGE

 – Some things that seem too good to be true, are probably not true.