Watching the opening scene of “The Housemaid”, one might get the sense of Chinese director Jia Zhangke’s films steeped in realism. Instead, the film is the latest from South Korean director Im Sang-soo — who hasn’t made a film since “The Old Garden”, which screened at the 2007 Cleveland International Film Festival. What follows is a slow-burning but increasingly rewarding film not to be missed. When an upper-class couple with one daughter and twins on the way are in search of a new housemaid, the young, innocent Eun-yi fits the bill.  But when an affair between Eun-yi and Hoon, the man of the house, erupts, what once seemed like a loving family turns far grimmer. As the story unfolds, the truth of what really goes on in the household begins to unravel. Lead actress Jeon Do-youn, who won the Best Actress Award at the 2007 Cannes International Film Festival for her work in “Secret Sunshine”, is perfectly cast as the adorable and naive Eun-yi. Her performance is incredibly demanding, but she pulls it all off as if it were a walk in the park. Equally impressive is veteran actress Youn Yuh-Jung as Byung-sik, the aged maid who has been with the family for some time and is often the fly on the wall to the events that occur. Sang-soo, no stranger to controversial subject matter, has crafted an extraordinary film that builds on its suspense and tension until the final reel and is sure to garner comparisons to the work of filmmakers like Alfred Hitchcock and Roman Polanski. The director’s shot composition and eye for visuals is evident and gives the picture the elegant feel it wholeheartedly deserves. “The Housemaid” is actually a remake of a 1960 film of the same name, which is considered by some to be the greatest Korean film of all time. Im Sang-soo’s erotically charged re-imagining could quite possibly garner the same accolades as the years go by. A dark-as-night shocker of an ending is the final nail in the sarcophagus, and this film is hard to shake long after viewing. “The Housemaid” opens at Cedar Lee Theatre in Cleveland on March 11, courtesy of IFC Films.