The Housemaid- Where Did That Come From?

The Housemaid blindsided me in the final two minutes. Until that point it was a solid movie, but a bizarre ending has all but wiped out the rest of the film. A running theme on No Spoiler Tags is that one shot, one scene can completely alter the entire perception of a movie. The Housemaid is another example of that theme.

This Korean film follows the story of a maid impregnated by her master. The mother of the master's wife finds out about the pregnancy and poisons the maid to cause a miscarriage. The maid swears revenge on the entire family.

Her revenge? She hangs herself. Now as revenge goes, suicide is not quite as useful as murder or kidnapping, but doing it right in front of them, that's bound to leave some psychological scars. Especially on the innocent girl that she actually likes. Still had the movie ended here, it would have been a very good film, but then things start getting weird.

While she is hanging, she yells "Fire" and immediately bursts into flames. First of all, it's kind of hard to speak while dying of asphyxiation. Secondly, how does she ignite? Her hands are on the noose. She couldn't have lit herself on fire. Is she adept in the art of psychokinesis? If she is indeed the firestarter,  twisted firestarter, I think roasting her enemies alive might be a more effective form of revenge. Moments after she bursts into flame, gushing torrents of water begin to pour down from above. What private home has a fire sprinkler system? And even if this one did, it wouldn't have activated that quickly. So instead of being moved by the ritualistic suicide scene, I'm thinking she's three-fourths the way to becoming the Avatar. Again, had the movie ended here, I could have basically ignored the logical inconsistencies and it would have been a good film, but this is when things get really weird.

The final scene appears to be guest directed by David Lynch. We are taken outdoors, but there is fancy indoor furniture. All the characters are speaking this strange language called "English." The maid sings a Marylin Monroe-style Happy Birthday to the little girl and then the master pours a champagne toast.

This scene bothers me for several reasons. First, I'm not much of a fan of surrealism for dramatic effect. The essence of drama is realistic expressions of real events and emotions. The exact opposite of surrealism. Surrealism is great for comedy. I'm a big fan of Monty Python and The Kids in the Hall. Surrealism also works for characters with an altered mental state due to drugs or illness. But dramatic surrealism for surrealism's sake leaves me wondering what is happening in the real world.

Second, I have no clue what the final scene is supposed to mean. I can't even venture a guess. My best guess as to how it fits into the film is as the maid's dying visions or her being welcomed to the afterlife, but as for what it is supposed to symbolize, I have no clue.

Third, I have stated before that a movie should establish a style early on and stick to it. Drastically changing styles is alienating to the audience. Until this point, reality had been quite firm in the film. This scene simply did not belong in this movie.