So, did I initially pick this movie because there were going to be naked ladies in it? Yes, I did. As with drugs, I like naked ladies. But then, lucky me, it also turned out to be a truly fascinating movie! I read it being described somewhere as ‘an erotic historical psychological thriller set in 1930s Korea,’ and I thought: ‘Hm… Erotic? I like. Historical? I like too. And psychological and thriller? Likey, likey.’ And since I know almost nothing about 1930s Korea, I figured: Yeah… this could be good.
And so it was. Very good, in fact! A brief overview of the story: it follows a young pickpocket named Sook-Hee. She is recruited to pose as a maid for a wealthy, isolated heiress, part of an elaborate scheme to steal her fortune. What begins as a simple con spirals into something far stranger and more intimate, as shifting loyalties, hidden motives, and forbidden desires unravel across multiple layers. The story is told from different perspectives, each one revealing that the truth is never quite what it seemed the first time around.
Now, first off, allow me to repeat what everybody else likes to shout about it: yes, it is very beautiful. The cinematography, the settings, the costumes—it’s all top-notch. So, now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk for a minute about Kabuki-style acting. Do you know what that is? I think you do. You just didn’t know it was called that, that strange Japanese/Asian sense of humor: old men with exaggerated mustaches and eyebrows, who then act like a manga comic came alive—fast zoom-ins, big eyes… Slapstick comedy, we Westerners would probably call it. It’s been used in Japanese traditional theater for centuries, mainly for comedic purposes and to ridicule the powers that be. In the early years of Japanese cinema, these acting techniques were copied directly into live-action films. Over time, however, they gradually faded, and in modern Japanese films you hardly ever see it anymore. Kabuki!
Now, this being very much a modern movie, one could ask himself, like I did, why director Chan-wook uses them in this movie. Well, the short answer is: to mess with your mind, man! This whole movie, in fact, is one big awesome mind job. Chan-wook uses every tool at his disposal to… well, basically, to fuck you up, The Usual Suspects-style. Yes, it’s that good. Everything—the setting, the great looks of it all, the hot girl-on-girl action, that strange jarring humor, and a very smart and elaborate con that works on multiple levels—it all comes together to make one very good film.
To conclude, then, allow me to expand on the description as I found it online: The Handmaiden is an exceptionally good, smart, sexy, beautiful, well-made psychological thriller, set in 1930s Korea, that keeps on messing with your head, again and again, until, in the end, it leaves you well and truly satisfied. Well, I was, at least. Thoroughly recommended.
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