16/11/2023 - We talked to the Spanish filmmaker about his debut feature, centred on a maid stuck in a luxurious villa with her employers

(© Albert Masferrer)

It’s a cruel summer in The Quiet Maid [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Miguel Faus
film profile], as Ana (Paula Grimaldo) is about to find out. Stuck in a luxurious villa with her employers (Ariadna Gil and Luis Bermejo), she is working constantly while everyone else is enjoying their holidays. The upside? They are getting sloppy about protecting their secrets. Miguel Faus' film is playing in the First Feature Competition at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. 

Cineuropa: The way you shot this film actually suits this lavish setting. It looks amazing.
Miguel Faus: It was very important for it to feel like a summer film. That’s when all these contrasts and conflicts between domestic workers and rich families are even more visible. All the real-life workers I have interviewed told me that summer is the most difficult time. You work 24/7 and these people are always at home. 

With my cinematographer Antonio Galisteo, we wanted you to feel the extreme heat of the Spanish summer, which makes all these tensions even more palpable, but oversaturated images also serve to express a certain falseness. They emphasise the void of this rich, bougie setting. It feels artificial, because that’s how they are. 

Why did you decide to interview all these domestic workers?
I wanted to understand their perspective. When I was working on my short Calladita [made in 2020], at first, I was interested in developing a satire about this affluent world. Then I realised that a domestic worker would be the perfect protagonist. Looking at it all through their eyes offered a unique point of view. I wanted to understand Ana as well as I could. 

You also give her some moments of freedom, revealing her personality. She is clearly much more than her job.
I hope that everyone is more than their job! I think that for Ana, there are two levels of freedom in the film. In the first half, where this couple is still at home, these moments of liberty are scarce. Yes, she goes out with her friend, but it’s a secret. Later, when they leave, this whole house becomes her space. 

Someone could say that they are treating her well. But it’s scary to see how easily these situations can get out of control.
One thing that really interested me had to do with all these nuances of different social interactions. We don’t even realise how perverse they are sometimes. Politeness can hide many things. 

There is this transactional element to their relationship, obviously. She is there to do her job and to do it as quietly as possible. If it was up to them, they probably wouldn’t interact with her at all. These conversations say something about each of these characters. The mother is more in charge, she is the one giving orders. The daughter might seem the friendliest, because she doesn’t notice these class barriers. She is a free spirit, while her brother has clearly learnt from his parents.

Yes, but you show that being “friendly” is not enough. She is friendly by complimenting how well Ana cleaned that place after a rowdy party, which makes it awkward.
This awkwardness is the core of the film — this is the reason I initially wanted to do it. Then it expanded, but humour coming from these interactions used to be my main focus. I wasn’t looking at these people with hatred. I just found it utterly absurd. 

This whole situation of having a live-in maid when you are on holidays… There is something violent about it and it doesn’t matter how well you treat her. Someone is sunbathing with a cocktail in their hand and someone else is washing their clothes — it is awkward. It can also be funny, although the more you find out about these arrangements, the angrier you get. 

There is another layer to the film: racism. Ana’s employers look down on her, they call her “Latina.”
In Spanish, this word sounds even worse. Racism is a prevalent issue in our society. I think about 70% of domestic workers in Spain are foreigners, most of them Latin American. When I was talking to them, we discussed that too. They have experienced many faces of racism. Very often, things are even more troubling than what I show in the film, with employers taking their passports away or not even giving them their own room. That being said, I like it when cinema offers some hope. Instead of showing what the world looks like, I prefer to show how it should look. 

Ana doesn’t say a lot, but she can express herself with a single defiant look on her face. That’s her way of saying “enough.” Was it hard to find someone who could communicate all that?
It wasn’t, but it should have been! Paula Grimaldo is incredible in the film. She was the first actress I saw for the role back when I was casting the short. I never doubted she should be the protagonist now, too. She is a strong person — you don’t really worry about her too much. Which is why it was important to “diminish” her strength at the beginning, in order to show her progression. I wanted to make sure that by the end of it all, Ana would flourish.