Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £6.99 a month
The Handmaiden
Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Stoker) channels Sarah Waters’ novel Fingersmith, to create a sumptuous twisty psychological thriller full of erotic intrigue.
Director: Park Chan-wook
Overview
Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Stoker) channels Sarah Waters’ novel Fingersmith, to create a sumptuous twisty psychological thriller full of erotic intrigue. Pretty Pickpocket Sook-hee is employed by con artist Count Fujiwara as handmaiden to the beautiful Lady Hideko. Fujiwara wants her help in conning the heiress into marriage to steal her inheritance. Isolated in her sadistic uncle’s mansion, Hideko and her maid find themselves falling in love, which complicates the dangerous con game.
Inspired by Welsh writer Sarah Waters’ 2002 novel Fingersmith, The Handmaiden relocates the narrative from Victorian England to 1930s Korea, which is under Japanese colonial rule. This enables production designer Ryu Seong-hie to give full flower to her imagination, creating awe-inspiring sets rich with period detail, blending Japanese and British architecture (and my God – the wallpaper!). Marking Park Chan-wook’s first Korean film after Stoker, The Handmaiden continues the theme of revenge so deliciously and obsessively explored in the director’s Vengeance trilogy. But here, the erotic is foregrounded, through immaculately composed images that imbue every object with a seductive energy, so that even a pair of gloves thrums with scintillating power. A foxy concoction of exquisite style and thrilling storytelling, The Handmaiden will leave you breathless.
strong sex, sex references
Related
The Apprentices The Apprentices
Comedy 1995 94 mins Director: Pierre Salvadori
Pierre Salvadori's cult 1995 comedy, starring François Cluzet and Guillaume Depardieu as two young adults searching for love and success.
Ossessione Ossessione
Crime 1943 140 mins Director: Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti’s adaptation of James M Cain's novel The Postman Always Rings Twice is an electrifying tale of the seductive and destructive power of human sexuality.
Hyena Hyena
Crime 2015 112 mins Director: Gerard Johnson
In this stylish, dark crime thriller, a policeman’s complex web of underworld relationships is threatened by an internal affairs investigator.
Project A Project A
Action and Adventure 1983 106 mins Director: Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan’s rip-roaring action-adventure about a coastguard hot on the trail of a ruthless band of pirates in late 19th century Hong Kong.
Beasts Clawing at Straws Beasts Clawing at Straws
Crime 2022 109 mins Director: Kim Yong-hoon
The lives of ten strangers collide when a cleaner finds a bag stuffed with money in this slick, jet-black comedy that unspools like a Korean Pulp Fiction. Starring Academy Award winner Yuh-Jung Youn (Minari).
A Bittersweet Life A Bittersweet Life
Action and Adventure 2005 120 mins Director: Kim Jee-woon and Doo Hong Jung
A hitman becomes the target in this ultra-stylish neo noir from Kim Jee-woon.
Arcadia Arcadia
Drama 2016 10 mins
Waking in the mysterious forest, amnesiac Samantha undertakes a journey accompanied by the witty yet puzzling Sebastian...
The Immigrant The Immigrant
Comedy 1917 24 mins Silent Director: Charles Chaplin
One of Chaplin’s most famous early shorts finds the Little Tramp aboard a ship bound for America, mistakenly accused of being a pickpocket.
Chelsea Bridge Boys Chelsea Bridge Boys
Documentary 1965 31 mins Director: Peter Davis and Staffan Lamm
Made for Swedish television, a look at a gang of "Rockers" who meet at a tea-kiosk on Chelsea Bridge.
On Chesil Beach On Chesil Beach
Drama 2018 110 mins Director: Dominic Cooke
Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle play a young, married couple struggling to physically connect in this sensitive adaptation of Ian McEwan’s acclaimed novel.
RBG RBG
Biopic 2018 99 mins Director: Julie Cohen and Betsy West
Revelatory documentary on an unexpected hero - former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Snowpiercer Snowpiercer
Science Fiction 2013 126 mins Director: Bong Joon-ho
After a global catastrophe launches the world into a new ice age, the last of humanity are trapped on a high-speed train that circles the globe infinitely.
JSA: Joint Security Area JSA: Joint Security Area
Thriller 2001 109 mins Director: Park Chan-wook
Gunfire breaks out in the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea in this gripping thriller from Park Chan-wook.
Oldboy Oldboy
Thriller 2003 120 mins Director: Park Chan-wook
Park’s wilfully grotesque fable about an abductee trying to fathom the mysteries of his past.
Lady Vengeance Lady Vengeance
2005 115 mins Director: Park Chan-wook
Following Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy, Park Chan-wook completes his thematically linked trilogy of revenge.
A Real Job A Real Job
Comedy 2023 101 mins Director: Thomas Lilti
A young, inexperienced substitute teacher is quickly confronted with the trials and tribulations of his job, in this wry tribute to the teaching profession.
All to Play For All to Play For
Drama 2023 112 mins Director: Delphine Deloget
A single mother fights to reclaim her children from foster care, in Delphine Deloget's powerful indictment of the French legal system.
The Apprentices The Apprentices
Comedy 1995 94 mins Director: Pierre Salvadori
Pierre Salvadori's cult 1995 comedy, starring François Cluzet and Guillaume Depardieu as two young adults searching for love and success.
The Dreamer The Dreamer
Romance 2023 95 mins Director: Anaïs Tellenne
An heiress returns to her uninhabited family manor to be confronted with the one-eyed caretaker who resides there, in the dreamlike take on La Belle et la Bête.
Through the Night Through the Night
Drama 2023 109 mins Director: Delphine Girard
Part gripping thriller, part psychological study, Delphine Girard's debut feature about consent and modern society's attitudes to sexual violence.
Making Of Making Of
Comedy 2023 114 mins Director: Cédric Kahn
Cédric Kahn (Roberto Succo, The Goldman Case) crafts this witty comedy about a troubled film shoot.