Today I am going to explain and recap a recently released South African horror film called good madam. First, If you like my recap videos then please subscribe to my channel. It really helps. This film is fairly complicated as it is written by 12 people. It is deep-rooted in south African culture hence it was hard for me to get it. Hence I have tried my best. The film opens at the house of Diane who is a white lady and old. She is sort of catatonic, hence bedridden. An old colored lady by the name of Mavis takes care of her. Mavis was a lifelong house servant who lived in this house all her adult life. Diane was confined to her bed at upper flour and she had a bell to ring. Next, we see a lady Tsidi, her daughter Winnie and her husband. Tsidi was Mavis's daughter. She and her husband were separated. she now arrives at Diane's house for a stay. This house was in a gated white community with extra security. Tsidi asks her mom to open the gate as she was not expecting her. While going in we see some graves here. Mavis was surprised and a little upset seeing Tsidi here as she was not expecting her. She allows them to stay here. About Diane, she had no one. Her kids migrated and settled in Australia, her husband was dead. As a child, Tsidi always hated this place as it took away her mom from her. She grew up with her grandmother in segregated houses as Mavis was busy with this job. During apartheid South Africa this was a decent job.
Mavis here tells Tsidi to explain the house rules to Winnie. Tsidi says you can't run here, you can't make noise, you can't go near the pool and finally, you can't enter madam's room. Winnie ironically says, we have to live here as if we don't exist. This house was big with many empty rooms yet Mavis allotted Tsidi and Winnie a tiny guest room. She was also living in the same servant quarter for decades. This angers Tsidi a little. At night Mavis says sorry to Tsidi as she was not there for her mom's funeral. Here we are shown a flashback of why Tsidi left her house. She and her daughter were living with her grandma. When she died her brothers, cousins gathered around and started clamming rights over the house. They wanted to stay there but Tsidi didn't agree. She argued and says where were you when grandma was sick. She had a big fight and moved out of that house. The next morning Winnie's dad arrives a little late to pick up Winnie for school. Tsidi was furious with him for this. After this, a white jogging lady stared at Tsidi in wondering. how come this lady stays here. Tsidi was under a lot of stress, she had lost her job, grandma, house and was living with her estranged mother. She starts to prey and asks for protection from her grandma's soul.
Here Diane was an art collector. she collected African arts and bells from all over the continent. The house was filled with it which made it slightly creepy.
A couple of day passes. One morning she saw some strange writings on the wall and a husky dog wandering. She asks Mavis about the dog to which she says, there is no dog in this house. The husky died years ago after which Diane was never the same. Later Tsidi checks out her brother Stuart's room. Stuart was Mavis's youngest son, Diane adopted him and raised him in this house. Mavis agreed to adoption as it would give him give education and better opportunity. Indeed Stuart was well off but he grew up detached from a real family. Diane was like a real mom to him and Mavis was like a nanny. Tsidi never bonded with him as they were always at different levels. She used to call him a coconut. Meaning like a coconut he was black outside but white inside. He always spoke in English, not in his native language.
Later in the day, a white lady drops Winnie at this house which infuriates tsidi. Here ladies image resembled young Diane. Tsidi calls her ex-husband and scolds him like hell. He says the white lady is Winnie's friend's mom and she lives in the neighborhood. Tsidi was afraid of white people and especially the unknown white people. Winnie here breaks a glass while playing which upsets Mavis. Later Tsidi shifts to Stuart's room as it was big and empty. Mavis opposes it as she thought it's not their place to be. It's not their house to live the way they want. Tsidi was insistent as she believed it was just right. Winnie here also asks Tsidi why she doesn't like this house. Tsidi says it's not that I don't like the house it's the house that doesn't like me. Whenever I was here I felt off and scared. Winnie was happy here, she draws a family picture where she, Tsidi, and Mavis were there.
Late at night, Tsidi wakes up to a creepy sound. Upon checking her mom was cleaning. She seemed in a trance-like state where she was not herself. She does not respond to Tsidi's call. She does her job and walks back to her room. Tsidi also saw a screaming young girl here. this incident spooks her a little. The next morning tsidi woke up where it was raining heavily. She searched for her mom but she was nowhere. Tsidi got locked in her mom's room, she started banging on the door but nobody helped her. Thankfully it was just a nightmare for Tsidi. This time she woke up for real. She saw her daughter's painting. She added Diane here which rattles her. She confronted Winnie about this and said this was a family photo. You can't add her here. We have no white relatives and Diane is not our family. Mavis tried to calm her down by saying Diane treats them like a family. But Tsidi's contempt for white people was of the next level. She was suspicious of everything. She always feared her daughter whether she will become another coconut.
Next Tsidi washed dishes and removes her coat from the washing machine. To her shock coat had enormous hairs on it even after cleaning. The dishes were dirty again. Tsidi was confused and shocked. Marcas asks whether she is OK as clearly, she seemed off. Later Mavis thanks Diane for allowing Tsidi and Winnie to stay here. Tsidi was drinking tea in a lavish cup which was apparently Diane's. Mavis stops her from using it as she thought it was not right. She had her cup and Diane had hers. Even though now nobody was using those cups still Mavis was hesitant to use them. The idea of what hers and Diane's was so deep-rooted in her that it was borderline apartheid. Tsidi fought this as she thought it was OK to use items if they are living here. But for Mavis 95% of the household items were off limit. To Tsidi the loyalty of Mavis towards Diane seemed like slavery.
Later in the afternoon, Winnie told Tsidi about the graves which we saw earlier. Mavis says they belonged to Diane's ancestors and their helpers. They considered them as family and berried them with themself. During apartheid South Africa it was not uncommon to have lifelong house servants. This also surprises Tsidi. Later she breaks the rules and enters Diane's room. Diane was sleeping, she sneakily starts searching her room and picks up her diary. Suddenly Diane starts choking, she fell from the bed. Mavis hurried here and checked on her. Tsidi was horrified seeing this, she thought she needed medical help. She insists on calling Diane's son grant but Mavis refuses it. She says, Diane is her problem and responsibility. she will take care of her till the end. Here Mavis's dilemma was where she will go without this house. She spent her entire adult life here. She raised Diane's sons here. Where will Tsidi go? These were some deep-rooted problems.
At night Tsidi says sorry to her daughter Winnie about her recent erratic behavior. She says she is not herself after grandma's death. Tsidi was not getting proper sleep. She finds Mavis's old image on one shelf behind which the same markings were there which she saw the other day on the wall. It was a spell by the name necropolis. It was an ancient Egyptian spell, I guess used for Ferros. Tsidi finds its meaning from the book lying there. Ancient Egyptian rich guys had many slaves. When they died they used to kill their slaves and bury them with themselves. As they believed they need their slaves in the afterlife as well. This terrifies Tsidi as to why such a dark thing is written behind Mavis's photo.
The next day Stuart arrives here. Tsidi struggles to connect with him even though he was her brother. She explains to him about Mavis's health issues and Diane's health issues. Stuart talks with Diane, he starts crying and says something about hands. Later he consoles Mavis about Diane's deteriorating health and asks her to be ready for anything. Mavis starts crying hearing this. Late at night, Tsidi gets a vision where her hand chops off on her own, and she starts cleaning flor like a possessed lady. When Winni calls her several time she comes to her senses, she didn't know why she was cleaning like that. She always felt safe around her grandma hence she starts to pray to her ghost for protection. All four of these guys have dinner and Stuart leaves for his house. Late at night, Tsidi woke to the phone ringing, Mavis was singing there rather hysterically. Tsidi puts down the phone and runs outside to get some fresh air. She was clearly scared and stressed. outside she again saw Diane's dead husky. This time she followed it and ended up at the graves. To her shock, she saw a peculiar thing on it. The owners and their helpers both died on the same day. The death date on one was December 12th, 1959, and the other was 15th April 1943. There were other similar graves. This spooks Tsidi like her as she was convinced about this Egyptian spell. She thought these white people killed their helpers on the day of their master's death and buried them alongside them so that they can join them in the afterlife. Tisidi hysterically picked up Winni and called her husband to pick her up. Mavis was confused as she thought Tisidi is mentally off after her grandmother's death. These two argue like anything and Tsidi drags Winni outside. Due to all this, the security alarm started ringing and Stuart got an SOS message on his app. He arrives here again and starts shouting at Tsidi for causing a ruckus in the middle of the night. He unintentionally says she only deserves the slums. He takes Mavis inside. Winni too started throwing tantrums as she wanted to live here not at her dad's house. During all these heated arguments Tsidi slaps Winni. Her husband grabs his child and shouts at Tsidi for being delusional. He asks her to get help. After he left we see Tsidi standing in the middle of the road crying. Suddenly someone or something starts to choke her and she passes out.
Next, we see her in the bathroom where she was cleaning the cleaned flour rather hysterically. Mavis saw this, she tried talking to her but Tsidi seemed to be in some sort of possession. Just then these two hear Diane's bell, they move to her room. Tsidi was holding a tray of tea symbolizing she was to be the new servant. Stuart was sitting beside Diane who was covered in flowers. While crying he says to Mavis it's time. All of a sudden he picks up a knife and starts stabbing Mavis. Mavis screams and stops him. In her self-defense, she stabs him back and kills him. With Mavis's screams, Tsidi came out of her trance-like state, she was horrified to see this. Just then Diane grabs her from behind, screams at her, and attacks her. Some sort of dirty liquid falls on her face. we see younger Diane all around this house, she was watching Winni play. Now she starts to choke Tsidi. Mavis saw this, she interfered and killed her. These two embrace after this. I know it's all confusing as to who Diane was actually. We will come to know in a bit.
After a few days, we see Tsidi waiting outside for her daughter in regular servant dress. The jogging lady waves at her as she felt this lady is safe by just her dress. the other day when Tsidi was not wearing the servant dress she stared at her. Tsidi takes Winni inside. Her husband dropped Winni here as he must have felt Tsidi is ok. Now we see Diane here, she was alive. Mavis asks her to talk to her son grant but she barely spoke. Mavis tells grant that everything is fine, Diane is all right and everything is under control. He asks Mavis to take care of herself as clearly he and his brother Ross were chilling in Australia. It seemed there were not coming back. Tsidi was finally happy at this house. With this, the film ends. So let me tell you what the heck is happening here. Tsidi had an estranged relationship with almost everyone, her mom mavis, her husband, and family members. Like many South Africans, she had a systemic apprehension about white people. Growing up as a child she always feard Diane's house. The incident of her grandma's death and the relative's hostile takeover of her house put her under enormous stress. As soon as she moved to Diane's house she started seeing and experiencing things. Like the husky, voices. She started suffering from delusions and hallucinations. Everything here was happening in her mind, she was seeing everyone with suspicion. Seeing husky, Stuart's death, and Diane's attack were all in her mind.
Poor Diane was bedridden all the time but her influence on the psyche of Tsidi and Mavis was something else. Mavis was too reluctant to live in the house as hers as she never touched Diane's items. She raised Diane's kid's grant and ross, she spent her life here yet she thought of herself as an outsider. Tsidi came to her senses after losing her kid and slowly she improved. Overall it's a complex movie with deep meaning. visual art and creepy music keep you at the edge. I really liked this.
