The Handmaiden

The Handmaiden
Theatrical release poster
Hangul	아가씨
Revised Romanization	Agassi
Directed by	Park Chan-wook
Written by	Park Chan-wook Jeong Seo-kyeong
Based on	Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Produced by	Park Chan-wook Syd Lim
Starring	Kim Min-hee Kim Tae-ri Ha Jung-woo Cho Jin-woong
Cinematography	Chung Chung-hoon
Edited by	Kim Jae-bum Kim Sang-bum
Music by	Jo Yeong-wook
Production companies	Moho Film Yong Film
Distributed by	CJ Entertainment
Release date	14 May 2016 (2016-05-14) (Cannes) 1 June 2016 (2016-06-01) (South Korea)
Running time	144 minutes[1]
Country	South Korea
Languages	Korean Japanese
Budget	₩10 billion (approx. $8.8 million)[2]
Box office	$38.6 million[3][4]

The Handmaiden (Korean: 아가씨; RR: Agassi; lit. '"Lady"') is a 2016 South Korean erotic psychological thriller film directed by Park Chan-wook and starring Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo and Cho Jin-woong. It is inspired by the 2002 novel Fingersmith by Welsh writer Sarah Waters, with the setting changed from Victorian era Britain to Korea under Japanese colonial rule.

The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. It was released in South Korea on 1 June 2016, to critical acclaim. It grossed over $38 million worldwide.

At the 71st British Academy Film Awards, the film won the category of Best Film Not in the English Language.

Plot[]

Part 1[]

In Japanese-occupied Korea, a con man operating under the sobriquet of "Count Fujiwara" plans to seduce a Japanese heiress named Lady Hideko, then marry her and commit her to an asylum in order to steal her inheritance. He hires a pickpocket named Sook-hee to become Hideko's maid and encourage Hideko to marry him.

Hideko lives with her Uncle Kouzuki, a Korean man who helped the Japanese take over his country in exchange for a gold mine. Kouzuki then uses this wealth to feed his obsession with rare books, selling forgeries to further accumulate money and books. Sook-hee's main job is to help Hideko prepare to read for Kouzuki's guests. Returning frustrated from a reading, Hideko demands Sook-hee sleep next to her. The two end up making love, under the pretext of preparing Hideko for her married life with the Count. Sook-hee begins expressing reluctance about the plan, but when Hideko herself suggests she loves someone other than the Count, Sook-hee insists on the marriage. Hideko slaps her and violently throws her from the room.

When Kouzuki leaves on business for a week, Hideko and Fujiwara elope. After cashing out Hideko's inheritance, it is revealed that Hideko's naïveté was part of the con. She and Fujiwara double-crossed Sook-hee and convinced the asylum that she is the "Countess" to have her committed in Hideko's stead.

Part 2[]

A series of flashbacks show that Hideko's “reading practice” was in fact Kouzuki teaching her to erotically read sadistic pornography since she was five years old. The flashbacks show a regimen of psychological and physical abuse that gradually degrades the sanity of Hideko's aunt, who is eventually found hanged from a tree in the yard, and so Hideko takes over as the reader for the auctions. When Hideko questions the description of a hanging in a book she has to read, Kouzuki tells her that he murdered her aunt using torture devices in the basement after she attempted to run away.

In the more recent past, the Count realizes seducing Hideko would be impossible and instead includes her in the plan to elope and then split her inheritance. When Hideko expresses her fear of her uncle, the Count gifts her a vial of opium with which to commit suicide, so that she can never be taken to the basement alive. Hideko demands the Count find her a girl to hire as a maid, to commit to an asylum in Hideko's place.

While being instructed by the Count, who takes advantage of Sook-hee's illiteracy, Hideko unexpectedly falls in love with her. Hideko tries to confess her love, but when Sook-hee insists the marriage go on, Hideko throws her from the room and tries to hang herself. Sook-hee saves her and both admit to their plots. Hideko helps Sook-hee write a letter to her family to say she has teamed up with Hideko, and to hatch a plot to get Hideko and Sook-hee away from the men who have been manipulating them. Hideko shows Sook-hee the books she was forced to read and Sook-hee begins destroying the library. Hideko calls Sook-hee "her savior" and joins in destroying her uncle's collection.

Part 3[]

Sook-hee's friend Bok-soon sets a fire at the asylum and poses as a firefighter to rescue Sook-hee. Hideko doses Fujiwara's wine with drops from the opium vial, causing him to pass out while she takes the money and leaves. The women reunite and flee together, disguising Hideko as a man to avoid detection.

Kouzuki captures Fujiwara upon receiving a letter from Hideko detailing Fujiwara's deception. He tortures Fujiwara in his cellar with his collection of antique bookmaking tools and presses him for sexual details about his niece. Fujiwara makes up a story about their wedding night but a flashback shows that he watched Hideko masturbate before cutting her hand on a knife to stain her sheets, refusing to consummate the marriage. When Kouzuki presses for more details, Fujiwara convinces him to give him one of his cigarettes. After smoking, a disgusted Fujiwara refuses to give further details. Kouzuki notices the cigarettes are producing blue smoke. Fujiwara reveals that his cigarettes had been laced with mercury and the toxic gas within the smoke kills them both.

On a ferry to Shanghai, China, Sook-hee and Hideko celebrate their newfound freedom by making love once again.

Cast[]

Production[]

In December 2014, it was reported that Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo and Cho Jin-woong signed on for the film.^[5] Kim Tae-ri was selected from 1,500 candidates to play the role.^[6] Shooting for the film began in June 2015 and concluded in October 2015.^[7][8]

The books The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife and Jin Ping Mei were featured in the film.^[9]

Release[]

In February 2016, CJ Entertainment announced that The Handmaiden was pre-sold to 116 countries, including to Amazon Studios for the US.^[10] The film premiered in competition at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation, and Ryu Seong-hee won the Vulcan Award of the Technical Artist for her art direction work on the film.^[11][12][13] The film was also screened in the Special Presentations section of the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, where The Playlist named it as one of the 15 best films of the festival.^[14] In South Korea, the film was released on 1 June 2016 and sold more than 4 million tickets.^[15][16][17]

In the United States, the distribution of the film was handled by Amazon Studios and Magnolia Pictures. The film opened in limited release across five cinemas in New York City and Los Angeles,^[18][19] and played in 140 additional cinemas in the following weeks.^[20] Eventually, the film grossed more than $2 million in the United States theatrically;^[21] the film outgrossed Stoker and became the highest-grossing Park Chan-wook-directed film in the United States.^[22] It was released on DVD in the US on 24 January 2017 and Blu-ray on March 28, 2017.^[23][24]

In the United Kingdom, the distribution of the film was handled by Amazon Studios and Curzon Artificial Eye. The film grossed more than $1.8 million in the United Kingdom theatrically, and became the highest-grossing foreign-language film in the UK in 2017.^[25]

The original theatrical cut of the film runs 144 minutes. An extended cut, running 168 minutes, was later given a limited theatrical release in the UK and has also been released on home video in some international markets.^[26]

Reception[]

Critical response[]

The Handmaiden received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 95%, based on 210 reviews, and an average score of 8.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Handmaiden uses a Victorian crime novel as the loose inspiration for another visually sumptuous and absorbingly idiosyncratic outing from director Park Chan-wook."^[27] On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 84 out of 100, based on 40 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".^[28] The Economist described the film as a masterpiece.^[9] Benjamin Lee of The Guardian ranked it four out of five stars and described it as "a hugely entertaining thriller".^[29]

Response to the explicit scenes[]

The film's numerous sexually explicit scenes between the two main female characters sparked some controversy. Laura Miller at Slate described the scenes as "disappointingly boilerplate" and featuring "visual clichés of pornographic lesbianism, [the actresses'] bodies offered up for the camera’s delectation."^[30] However, The New Yorker's Jia Tolentino said that "the women know what they look like, it seems—they are consciously performing for each other—and Park is deft at extracting the particular sense of silly freedom that can be found in enacting a sexual cliché."^[31]

Top ten lists[]

The Handmaiden was listed on numerous critics' top ten lists.^[32]

In 2019, The Guardian ranked The Handmaiden 41st in its 100 best films of the 21st century list.^[35] In 2020, The Guardian also ranked it number 1 among the classics of modern South Korean Cinema.^[36]

Accolades[]

See also[]

• Fingersmith, BBC mini-series that is also based on the book of the same name

References[]

External links[]

• The Handmaiden at IMDb
• Review for The Handmaiden by film critic Lee Dong-jin