It is the 1930s, Korea is under Japanese colonial rule, a con-man who goes by the false name Count Fujiwara, perpetually after earning money through fraud, this no strings attached with anything guy and an asshole, decides to con a Japanese heiress Heideko into marrying him for her inheritance. To help him with this scam, he heirs a petty thief Sook-hee to go work as Heideko’s handmaiden. And then begins the games to keep you guessing who is conning whom and who will betray whom because all three characters begin with similar motivations – a certain kind of freedom that money can and will bring them. It’s as if blue is the warmest color and wild things had a baby that borrowed all good things from the former and the twisty thrill from the latter, but only just that but even though both the handmaiden and wild things fall under the umbrella of erotic thrillers, the handmaiden shows you how it is done.
Title: The Handmaiden
Year: 2016
Director: Park Chan-wook
Cinematographer: Chung Chung-hoon
Producer: Park Chan-wook, Syd Lim
Editor : Screenplay/Writer: Park Chan-wook, Jeong Seo-kyeong, Adapted from The Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Editing: Kim Jae-bum, Kim Sang-bum
Music: Jo Yeong-wook
Cast: Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo and Cho Jin-woong
Genre: Erotic psychological thriller
Rating: IMDB - 8.1 Rotten Tomatoes - 95%
Awards/Accolades: Best non English film [BAFTA, 2016]
