Director: Chan-wook Park
Writer: Chan-wook Park, Seo-Kyung Chung (Screenplay) Sarah Water (Novel)
Starring: Min-hee Kim, Kim Tae-ri, Jung-woo Ha, Jin-woong Jo, Hae-suk Kim, So-ri Moon
Plot: A woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, but secretly she is involved in a plot to defraud her.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Visual Beautiful Film
Story: The Handmaiden starts as we see a young Korea woman Sookee (Tae-ri) get a new job working for a Japanese family as a handmaiden to Lady Hideko (Kim). We soon learn that Sookee has been planted there by a con-artist as they plan to steal her fortune by push Lady Hideko love towards himself as a fake Count Fujiwara (Ha).
As Sookee and Lady Hideko spend more time together Sookee sees the plan going off she finds herself drawn to Hideko as the two start a secret relationship while Hideko has to make a decision on who to marry Count Fujiwara or her Uncle Kouzuki (Jo).
It is after the wedding the story takes the biggest twist as we flashback to learn what the bigger plan really was.
The Handmaiden is a romantic drama that follows our characters from each of their angles of the story which all comes together to complete the story of all of its twists along the way. We have a story where the surprised do keep coming. The settings are breathtakingly beautiful with the music perfectly placed through the film.
For the acting both Min-hee Kim and Kim Tae-ri shine in the leading lady roles while both the leading guys do a great job too. We could easily see these two ladies going on too many more high profile projects after their performances.
Overall: Powerhouse performance, brilliant story and visually stunning.
Rating
