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kelleypanicfan
Reviews
The Cleaning Lady (2018)
A sympathetic antagonist
Spoilers ahead! TW: sexual assault/child abuse
It's hard to root against the main antagonist (Shelly) once you learn her tragic backstory and what's motivating her to do the heinous things she does. She's a survivor of sexual assault and does what she has to to get out of the horrible situation and condition she's living in with her mother. I am in no way justifying her actions throughout the film BUT I can see why she does what she does.
I don't think it's fair to take a character who has survived and gone through such trauma and turn them into a villain. I mean for Christ's sake the reason she got burned was an act of self defense against her perpetrator!! Overall I enjoyed the film and though
the ending wasn't as satisfying as I liked you gotta love the parallels of her looking through her doll house at her perfect blonde Barbie to the final scene of our now "perfect" blonde lead trapped in her new "doll house"
Is this a happy ending for the audience and Alice? I'd say no but I mean we got three missing persons and I'm not sure how good Shelly is at hiding her tracks so my ideal ending is that Alice is saved and Shelly can get the help she needs.