This 2016 psychodrama from Park Chan-wook is so nearly a full on 5/5. There’s lots to love in this very darkly humourous, bold, weird, and sometimes unnerving film.
The Handmaiden is a story of love, deceit, abuse, and other such tomfoolery. Across its 2 hour 25 minute theatrical cut runtime, the plot twists and turns to leave the viewer wondering what may happen. Thus, we’re here to celebrate the SOB in all its nefarious glory.
Pulverising Patriarchal Powers in The Handmaiden
At its core, The Handmaiden is about two bisexual young women who turf the conniving men out of their lives and make a break for freedom. The South Korean film is much more complex and nuanced than that overview, but we want to simplify it all a little.
Park Chan-wook and Jeong Seo-kyeong wrote the screenplay, adapting it from Welsh novelist Sarah Water’s book Fingersmith (2002). The book is set in Victorian-era UK.
The film takes the concept and thrusts it into Japanese-occupied Korea (a period from 1910-1945). That national shift works extremely well and was well judged by the writers.
Its plot is about Count Jujiwara (Ha Jung-woo), a con artist who hires pickpocket Nam Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri) to manipulate local rich Japanese heiress Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee). The plan is for the Count to marry her, commit Lady Hideko to an insane asylum, then leg it with Sook-hee with the money.
Nam Sook-hee infiltrates the estate by getting a job as a maid, which is where she meets the naïve Lady Hideko for the first time.
Okay, there ARE SOME BIG SPOILERS ahead here. As despite what appears to be her cluelessness, it later emerges Lady Hideko is a “rotten bitch” and simply playing her own ruse.
She sees through the plot of the Count and, for kicks, starts messing around with all concerned. Also with the plan of fleeing the estate from her perverted Uncle Kouzuki (Cho Jin-woong). This results in Nam Sook-hee being committed to the insane asylum, all whilst Hideko marries the Count under false pretences.
However, the plot plays out in three parts.
During that time, its twists and turns (some of them brilliantly conceived, others a bit silly) mean Lady Hideko and Nam Sook-hee have fallen in love.
There’s some incredible dark humour in The Handmaiden, some of the very best we’ve ever seen. Not least when the two young women announce their love for each other, and reveal their deceitful tactics, all whilst Lady Hideko is attempting to hang herself (obviously, only watch this clip if you’re in a state of emotional wellbeing, please!).
These are the high marks of the film, and there are plenty of them, with an outstanding cast. The two leads in Kim Min-hee and Kim Tae-ri are just terrific.
The male leads as Count Fujiwara and Uncle Kouzuki are also played very well in despicable fashion. Especially the latter, what a creepy old bastard! An abusive murderer with a fondness for rare books, who put the young Lady Hideko through emotionally disturbed childhood years (explaining why she’s ended up the way she has).
But there are downsides to The Handmaiden. It’s too long. 30 minutes could’ve easily been cut out to make the narrative revelations sharper.
Plus, this is an erotic psychological thriller, so there are a couple of gratuitous, overlong, and pointless sex scenes between the two female leads. Cripes, do the scenes drag on and not add anything at all to the film.
The Special Edition Blu-ray we got comes with the Extended Cut version of The Handmaiden, which adds even more material. However, this does actually help the runtime (bizarrely) with relevant new elements to the story. We recommend that version over the theatrical cut.
If you’ve seen Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy (2003), you’ll know what to expect here.
Dramatic and twisting plot revelations are a speciality of his. To consistently hold intrigue across over two hours is very impressive, even during The Handmaiden’s sillier moments, and this is definitely worth your attention if you want to celebrate debauchery and the macabre.
The Production of The Handmaiden
Turned into US dollars and the film’s budget was $8.8 million, off which it made $38.6 million worldwide. It got a bunch of awards nods and won Best Film Not in the English Language at the 2016 BAFTAs. It’s also now considered one of the best films of the 21st century.
For her joint lead role, Kim Tae-ri was picked from 1,5000 candidates. It was her feature film debut.
The Korean cast had to learn Japanese for the film and worked with Japanese teachers to master the new language. For the subtitled version of the film for Western viewers, the different languages are displayed in different coloured text.
Director Park Chan-wook used to be a film critic. That was in the late ’80s and early ’90s, but he then had the chance to gain filmmaking experience as assistant director on Watercolor Painting in a Rainy Day (1989). His directorial debut followed in 1992 with The Moon Is… The Sun’s Dream.
These early efforts weren’t well received, so he returned to film criticism.
But once he got more directing opportunities, and particularly with the launch of 2003’s Oldboy, that pretty much cemented his directing career. As noted here by Dr. Mark Kermode, it’s not an unusual career development.
The Handmaiden remains his most successful Western film. He’s since directed four more films, the last being No Other Choice in 2025, but those haven’t had the same international recognition.
Something of a tribute to The Handmaiden’s many peaks, then, as a modern classic.
