The Handmaiden
December 10 @ 6:00 pm
Wednesday, 10 December
The Handmaiden
Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden (2016) is a lavish, erotic, and stunningly intricate psychological thriller, adapted loosely from Sarah Waters’ novel Fingersmith. Set in 1930s Korea during the Japanese occupation, the film unfolds in three distinct parts, each revealing new layers of deceit, perspective, and reversal.
The story begins as Sook-Hee, a pickpocket, is hired as the handmaiden to Lady Hideko, a wealthy Japanese heiress living under the tyrannical control of her eccentric Uncle Kouzuki. Sook-Hee’s true purpose, however, is to aid a con man known as “Count Fujiwara,” who plans to seduce Hideko, marry her, and commit her to an asylum to steal her immense inheritance.
As the plan progresses, an unexpected and passionate romance develops between Hideko and Sook-Hee, turning the elaborate con on its head. The film masterfully utilises unreliable narrators and stunning visual design to explore themes of power, subjugation, female liberation, and class, ultimately delivering a conclusion where the true victims and manipulators are revealed in a breathtaking display of wits and defiance.
“It is certainly a brilliant adaptation of Sarah Waters’ original novel and a film about something that most other movies can only guess at: pleasure and rapture.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
Full review: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-handmaiden-2016a