On Dec. 19, the highly popular book turned movie, “The Housemaid” by Frieda McFadden, was released in theaters. Scoring a 73 percent on the Rotten Tomatoes site, the new release did not disappoint. The film starred actresses Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, as well as actor Brandon Sklenar. The psychological thriller had many fast-paced scenes, plot twists and shocking moments, much like the book. Turning books into movies is a tricky task in the sense that every time it ends in the inevitable question: which is better, the book or the movie?

The book version of “The Housemaid,” published in April of 2022, grew in great popularity due to the intense plot-twists and the page-turning writing. While the main plot was very similar to the book, director Paul Fieg did keep some key details out of the film. 

For example, in the book, McFadden portrays Nina Winchester as having a wider-set build due to gaining weight throughout her marriage to become less appealing to her husband. Actress Amanda Seyfried, who plays Nina Winchester in the film, is much slimmer and doesn’t seem to carry out the weight gain talked about in the book. 

Another change in the film was the role of Enzo, who is played by Michele Morrone. In the book, Enzo is the groundskeeper on the Winchester property who ends up helping Nina escape and even convinces her to go back for Millie and save her from Andrew. Whereas, in the film, Enzo plays a much smaller role. He does help Nina form a plan to escape from Andrew, but he isn’t given much camera time other than a couple of scenes. 

Finally, the last major difference between the book and the movie is Millie’s attic punishment. In the book, Andrew punishes Millie for leaving books on the table and banishes her to the attic, where she has to rest huge piles of books on her stomach to be let out. This punishment didn’t seem drastic enough for the film, so Fieg changed the punishment. Instead, Millie broke a family plate and was then asked to cut deep gashes into her stomach 20 times with a piece of the broken plate.

Despite the few differences, most of the film remains the same as the book. When it comes down to which is better, there can be much controversy. While the movie brings the book to life visually, the novel does a better job of showing the intense, slower build-up with a more detailed plot. Either way, watching or reading “The Housemaid” is a must; either one will leave you speechless.