THE HANDMAIDEN

Title : The Handmaiden

Language : Japanese, Korean

Release Date : 14 May 2016 (Cannes)

1 June 2016 (South Korea)

Directed By : Park Chan-wook

Distributed By : CJ Entertainment

The Handmaiden (Hangul: 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 from the 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, and received critical acclaim. Director Park Chan-wook won the Daesang award (film section) at the 53rd Baeksang Arts Awards for the film.

Synopsis :

Part 1

In Japanese-occupied Korea, a conman operating under the sobriquet of "Count Fujiwara" hires a pickpocket named Sook-hee from a family of con artists to become the maid of the mysterious Japanese heiress Lady Hideko, whom Fujiwara plans to marry and to commit to an asylum in order to steal her inheritance. Sook-hee, taking on the name "Tamako", enters Hideko's household, which is controlled by her authoritarian Uncle Kouzuki. Hideko is haunted by the suicide of her aunt, and claims to hear her voice at night. As Sook-hee and Hideko spend more time together, they appear to get along well, Hideko allowing Sook-hee to wear her dresses and jewelry. Hideko is also anxious about marrying Fujiwara, her feelings for him not very strong, but Sook-hee makes passionate love to her, promising her the same pleasures with her new husband. Sook-hee begins expressing reluctance about following through with the plan, unhappy over the feigned attraction Fujiwara has for Hideko. Hideko herself feels that she cannot go through with the marriage, but Sook-hee insists she do so, causing Hideko to slap her and run away in frustration. Kouzuki leaves on business for a week, reminding Hideko to "always remember the basement." Hideko and Fujiwara elope soon afterward and consummate their marriage, as indicated by a small blood stain on Hideko's sheets the following morning. After cashing out Hideko's inheritance, Sook-hee, Hideko, and Fujiwara travel to the asylum, but Sook-Hee is taken away by the staff, having been told that she is in fact Hideko. After being left with one piece of jewelry by Hideko, Sook-hee curses them as she is carried away.

Part 2

As a young child, Hideko is taught to read by her aunt, but any errors, mistakes, or any feelings of levity from either of them results in severe physical punishment from Kouzuki. Kouzuki houses a massive library of antique erotica, which he forces Hideko's aunt to read for aristocratic guests, which is then auctioned off to them. Unable to handle the abuse, Hideko's aunt hangs herself from a tree in their yard. However, Kouzuki takes Hideko into his basement, where he heavily implies he murdered her aunt after she had attempted to run away. As Hideko grows older, she reads the books in her aunt's place. She catches the eye of Fujiwara, who poses as an art forger that Kouzuki hires to replicate missing art from his books. He then meets with Hideko in private, offering her an escape from her abusive life. He informs her of his plan: find a poor, illiterate Korean girl to pose as her handmaiden that will blindly assist the two in marrying, and once they've claimed the inheritance, she will commit the handmaiden in Hideko's place and live under her identity.

Hideko is initially complicit in the plans, but finds her feelings for Sook-hee growing over time. On the night Sook-hee makes love to Hideko under the guise of strengthening her feelings for Fujiwara, the two become increasingly more intimate, realizing their true love for each other. Hideko breaks down and laments that she can't marry Fujiwara, though Sook-hee tells her she must. Torn between her escape and her love for Sook-hee, she attempts to hang herself from the same tree her aunt hung from, but is saved by Sook-hee, who tearfully confesses her culpability in trying to commit Hideko and steal her inheritance, with Hideko admitting her plan to commit her in her place. The two vow to get revenge on both Kouzuki and Fujiwara, but not before going into Kouzuki's library and destroying every book in his possession before they leave for the marriage.

Part 3

Over dinner, Fujiwara fantasizes over his wealth and new life with Hideko. Meanwhile, Sook-hee manages to escape the asylum by picking the lock to her brace using the hairpin given to her by Bok-soon (caretaker of the con-artist family), who disguises herself as a firefighter and rescues Sook-hee under the cover of a small fire. That night, at a hotel, Hideko visits Fujiwara's room attempting to convince Fujiwara to drink wine which she has laced with a strong opiate he gave her as a means of painless suicide were their plan to fail. When Fujiwara shows no interest in drinking the wine, Hideko attempts to seduce Fujiwara. Fujiwara eventually swallows the wine and proceeds to try force himself onto Hideko but falls asleep due to the effects of the opiate. Sook-hee and Hideko reunite at the hotel and leave immediately, enlisting her con artist family to forge passports and leave the country with Hideko, despite Kouzuki's efforts to keep them in the country through his influence.

Kouzuki eventually finds Fujiwara and brings him back to his estate, torturing Fujiwara in his cellar with his collection of antique bookmaking tools and presses him for sexual details about his niece. Fujiwara makes up a fake story about their wedding night where in fact it is revealed that Hideko had cut her hand on a knife and stained her own sheets, refusing to sleep with Fujiwara. When Kouzuki presses for more details to Fujiwara's fake story, he convinces Kouzuki into lighting him some cigarettes. Finally, certain that the room has now been saturated with the blue smoke coming from his cigarettes, a disgusted Fujiwara refuses to give Kouzoki any further details and reveals that his cigarettes had been laced with mercury and the toxic gas within the smoke was now killing them both. Kouzoki and Fujiwara both die before Kouzoki can remove Fujiwara's penis with a pair of scissors. On a ferry to Shanghai, China, Sook-hee and Hideko celebrate their newfound freedom by making love once again.