The Housemaid Movie’s Ending Is Different From The Book. Why I Actually Like It Better

by

It’s natural to compare books to their movie or TV adaptations, and The Housemaid movie is no exception. I noticed several differences between the book and the film, even in the trailers, but I could see the reasons behind the changes. I especially want to discuss the ending of this recent 2025 release.

Just a heads-up: major spoilers ahead! If you haven’t read Freida McFadden’s book or watched the movie with Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, I suggest saving this article and coming back to it later – discovering the story firsthand is much more enjoyable. Okay, let’s dive into how the book ends:

The Real Story Behind Nina Winchester

The biggest twist in The Housemaid happens when Millie gets trapped in the attic by Andrew. This happens because Andrew is having an affair with the live-in maid, which has led to his wife, Nina, being left by him. Unexpectedly, the story then switches to Nina’s point of view. Instead of being upset about Andrew ending their relationship – especially since she’s been portrayed as unstable – Nina is actually relieved to be rid of him. We see her happily burning a picture of him while staying at a hotel.

Nina recounts how Andrew asked her out after a humiliating incident at work – she’d experienced a milk leak shortly after giving birth to their daughter, Cecelia. What began as a loving relationship, however, turned abusive after they married. He would frequently lock her in the attic and subject her to torture.

He deliberately made it hard for her to escape the marriage. He staged a situation where it appeared she attempted to drown their daughter while under the influence of drugs, resulting in her being committed to a psychiatric hospital. In response, she devised a plan to get Andrew to leave her by hiring Millie and arranging for him to fall in love with the housemaid. Millie then carried out the final act of killing him.

How The Book Ends

The story then focuses on Millie, where Andrew continues to control her. He forces her to balance three heavy books – a guide to prisons, a history of torture, and a phone book – on her stomach for three hours. Because she doesn’t do it exactly as he wants the first time, he makes her repeat it before allowing her to rest.

Millie, revealed to be a murderer, reacts to Andrew’s actions by imprisoning him in the attic. She subjects him to cruel treatment, forcing him to balance books on his groin and then pull out his own teeth with pliers. Meanwhile, the gardener, Enzo – who knew about what happened to Nina and had been secretly watching over Millie – persuades Nina to rescue Millie from her husband. Nina goes to the house and finds the door unlocked. Expecting to find Millie, she instead discovers Andrew, who has died from starvation and the abuse he suffered at Millie’s hands.

Nina pressures Millie to leave town and then tells the police a false story: Andrew supposedly locked himself in the attic and died while she was away and Millie had time off. Despite concerns about Andrew’s missing teeth, the investigating officer dismisses the death as an accident, likely because he knew Andrew had a bad reputation and is also the father of Andrew’s ex-fiancée. At the funeral, Andrew’s mother subtly threatens Nina, hinting she’d inflict the same pain on her if she were in Nina’s position. Meanwhile, Nina helps Millie find another job as a housekeeper, but during the interview, the new employer reveals her husband is also abusive.

What Happens At The End Of The Housemaid Movie, And Why I Like It Better

If you’ve seen the movie – which critics are loving and the director hinted at changes to – you probably noticed it closely follows the book, but the ending is significantly different. While Nina’s history remains largely the same, with just a few minor details altered, the events that unfold at the Winchester house are quite distinct from the book’s conclusion.

Instead of making Millie balance books on her stomach, Andrew demands she cut herself twenty times with a shard from his mother’s broken china. She complies, and when Andrew unlocks the door for her, she retaliates by slashing his neck with a butter knife she discovered hidden in the attic. She mocks Andrew, destroying more of the china set, and then insists he pull out one of his front teeth, believing he hasn’t suffered enough despite his seemingly perfect life.

In the film, Cecelia is the one who encourages Nina to confront Millie, but this leads to a different outcome. Instead of finding Andrew already dead, Nina opens the door expecting Millie and finds Andrew still alive, allowing him to attack. This creates a more direct fight between Andrew and Nina, and gives the couple a final scene together. Although the book’s ending was more surprising, I believe it’s more satisfying for viewers to see Nina and Andrew share one last moment, where she can finally express her feelings to him.

Millie kills him again, this time by pushing him from a balcony in the lavish Winchester house. The movie explains this by saying he was trying to change a lightbulb, and Nina points out that this wasn’t unusual, as he was a perfectionist. Instead of a male police officer, a policewoman investigates – she’s the sister of Andrew’s former fiancée. I feel this new ending is more impactful than the original ending in the book, and more satisfying. However, like most adaptations, I still believe the book is stronger overall.

Read More

2025-12-19 04:09