The Handmaiden

A long con with numerous plot twists

Those who decry this movie in their reviews for the love scenes are those who consider the human body filthy and disgusting. They prefer lovemaking scenes to involve only those who wear their pyjamas to bed and do everything under the covers and as prescribed by missionaries. They prefer women who just made passionate love to cover themselves with linens when leaning up to talk to the man who just got out of bed already wearing his undershorts. They are disturbed by how the two women in the love scenes show real interpersonal chemistry instead of the fake, over dramatized undercover scenes in American films. They somehow see Tom Cruise getting nooky on the subway with his clothes on (Risky Business) as realistic, and lovemaking while completely undressed with the covers pulled back as totally fake. Also, they expect Asian movies to be all about ninjas and kung fu or a giant sea lizard that destroys a major city, and speaking English with condescending fake accents.In your typical American movie, a male and a female meet early in the movie just long enough to make eye contact and demonstrate dislike of or disinterest in one another. Then, they go through predictable experiences that enhance their mutual dislike, but fall madly in love at the end and live happily ever after. The two who fall in love in this movie never go through those predictable, boilerplate stages. Even after their mutual interest is eventually revealed, it gets unexpectedly cast in doubt relatively late into the movie.Those who consider the love scenes as hypocritical because the lovers are doing with each other what they can't accept reading to perverts who abuse them just don't get it. The love scenes illustrate a contrast between salacious stories read to unloving perverts and those who share a truly loving experience. They are unable to combine sex with love. To them it's either porn or Ricky and Lucy sleeping in separate beds with a night stand separating them. The main love scenes is, in fact, an integral part of the story. Without it, it wouldn't make sense for the women to have a mutual, unshakeable bond. They would just be a couple of conniving single women looking for men who truly love them otherwise.I hope I haven't spoiled the plot for anyone who hasn't seen this movie yet. If you are squeamish about your body, go watch Snow White or Bambi.* For those who don't get the Ricky and Lucy reference, please watch some episodes of "I Love Lucy".

This is a stunning film. While I do think it could have been pared down, I found myself able to justify most of the choices made in Part 2 of the film, which was the part that initially felt extraneous to me. But aside from a few spots where I felt like I was having my hand held just a little too tightly, this movie is almost flawless. The performances are extraordinary, it looks wonderful, and the story, while no great mystery, is made compelling by the depth of feeling the actors are able to evoke in their portrayal of these characters.It also gets points for delivering a really wonderful commentary on gender dynamics and patriarchal values, however, I feel the message gets somewhat undercut by the decidedly male perspective of the film. Sook-hee and Hideko are fully realized, complex characters, and their affection for one another is deeply felt in this film, but the film does in its own way mirror the erotic literature on which it comments in terms of its depiction of the two female leads. I think it's telling that at the end of the film they are literally acting out one of the stories Hideko is forced to read at her Uncle's readings. Given the scene with which that scene (the reading) is directly juxtaposed, I get that he's trying to demonstrate her affection for Sook-hee, but she's not the one choosing the stories*. A slight change there, maybe showing Hideko choosing the story, might have gone a long way in making me more comfortable with the closing scene.Edit: *I want to walk this back. I've watched it twice more, and now I understand that the story Hideko reads is how she learns to make love to Sook-hee, like literally, physically. In a way, it's the erotic literature that frees them, but only when they take the fantasy out of the hands of the patriarchy and bring into reality does it become a source of power for them rather than oppression. Holy cow, this movie is incredible.

I'm in my 50's and have seen quite a few of movies; I won't tell you this is 'the best' I've ever seen, but so far I can't remember any other one that has impacted me so bad. The movie has an awesome plot beautiful photograpy brilliant acting and great sex scenes (although a bit too long for my taste). I've just watched it and I'm still very impressed, so it's difficult to do a 'cold' analysis, but I think that what really sets this movie apart is that it opens a door to deep parts of our souls, places that we usually don't dare to visit or even don't know that are there ... terribly human and inhuman at the same time; it seems impossible how the characters can show the whole spectrum of emotions from the purest love to the coldest cruelty; and you get into the story, it doesn't look fake, you reallly buy it! I've feelt miserable and also had moments of intense joy through these more than 2 hours. It's true that if you don't read japanesse or korean, it's a bit hard to follow the plot it's also true that this is obviously an adult movie, not only because of the very explicit sex scenes but mainly because of all the scary evil things that live in the mind of some characters.Almost no blood, no explosions, no shooting, no cars or buildings being burnt to ashes and not too much of special effects, but intense as hell.This said, I think that a part of it is because I didn't read anything before watching it, so I can add the surprise to the whole range of emotions; if you read this, then you can be ready for a strong experience and maybe the impact will be smaller. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

La película en estética, en guión, fotografia, vestuario, actuaciones, es lo más maravilloso que puedas ver del cine Koreano, mucho mejor que Parasitos ñara mi gusto personal. Con sus giros clásicos del cine de esta región, prepárate para una historia de locura, gore, sadomasoquismo, erotismo, de época, sin estar recargada en exceso de cliches culturales que otras películas exigen para entender la historia...Acompañado todo de una música excelsa. Desde que compré el bluray, la he visto 10 veces.

Super film donc acheter en Anglais et Français

This is a beautiful, beguiling film in three parts.In Part One, a Korean con-artist poses as a Japanese count, in the days when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule. He earns the trust of another Korean would-be Japanese, the savagely cruel and twisted Kouzuki who has made his money selling rare, obscene books. Kouzuki's wife has already committed suicide (or been murdered) and he has raised his niece, beautiful , ethereal Hideko, to give erotic readings of the books to potential buyers.The Korean con-artist, a fake count making fake books, plans to seduce the heiress and commit her to an asylum. He takes young Sookhee to be her handmaiden, and soon the two women begin to be attracted to each other.In Part Two we see Hideko as a child, how she is never allowed to leave the grounds of the estate, and we see how the con man met the uncle and niece, and the plans hatched between them.Plots develop within plots, nothing is quite what it seems, and then we see everything again, astonishingly, from a different and far more satisfying viewpoint. There is a resolution, and I was only left wishing that the uncle had met a far more unpleasant end.Astonishing too is the way the film is made – like a painting, a dance, a still life – tableaux brought to life – the two stunningly lovely women kneeling, opening doors, kneeling and opening doors again to escape, running and laughing. Three people looking at each other, looking at a bag of money, then at each other again. The question of who can trust who hanging in the air.The clothes, hair, jewellery and internal sets are incredible – the octopus scene is jaw-dropping.Yes, there is nudity, but this is absolutely not pornography. The most erotic scenes involve a rough tooth and the readings – performed fully clothed. There is humour, the plot is gripping (I watched it twice in two days because the first time the subtitles didn’t work, and yet I had grasped almost all of it, except the significance of the Korean housekeeper, a Mrs Danvers-type figure).The subtitles are white for Korean being spoken, yellow for Japanese.I would describe it as mesmerising, but as Hideko said, that’s what a man says when he wants to touch a woman’s chest.

“Handmaiden” (L’Ancella) si presenta come un trittico che, attraverso rivelazioni successive, ci conduce con ironia e trasporto, stordendoci con immagini di annichilente fascino figurativo, alla naturalezza di una realtà inattesa. La storia si ispira alla complessa trama neovittoriana del romanzo di Sarah Waters “Fingersmith” (di cui la BBC ha realizzato anche un bell’adattamento televisivo), ma immediatamente la trascende, facendola germinare entro la stilizzazione elegante dell’arte giapponese, in cui ombre e colori accesi – spesso legati alle stagioni, agli alberi, alla pioggia, alle nuvole –, linee essenziali, geometriche e interni elaborati si confrontano, riflettendosi in una sorta di ininterrotta, seduttiva dicotomia. L’occhio di Park Chan-wook segue questa vicenda di inganni, sentimenti, disperazione e avidità con movimenti lenti, insinuando sempre nelle sequenze un senso diverso che tuttavia sfugge alla presa. Indugia nelle stanze della villa del sadico bibliofilo Kozuki dalla lingua nera d’inchiostro, e nel parco dove un grande ciliegio dai fiori bianchi, ondeggianti nel vento, si dice abbia assorbito l’anima della moglie di questo laido individuo, impiccatasi a un ramo per orrore nei confronti della vita cui il marito la costringeva.La luce non è gradita nella dimora di Kozuki, poiché potrebbe danneggiare i libri; nasce quindi dalle emozioni dei protagonisti, grazie alla fotografia di Chung Chung-hoon, in grado di dare vita a ogni dettaglio, ogni sguardo dissimulato o timido tocco. In quest’opera qualsiasi elemento e personaggio assume una natura duplice, dalla villa dotata di un’ala giapponese e una arredata all’occidentale alle due lingue parlate dai protagonisti (coreano e giapponese). Le frasi chiave rimbalzano come riflessi sull’acqua da una sezione all’altra, talvolta cambiando senso talvolta acquisendone uno ulteriore. I morti non muoiono mai per davvero, ma rimangono presenti e vagano senza pace nella mente turbata dei superstiti, sovrapponendosi alla loro forma interiore.Quella che sembra all’inizio la lineare traccia narrativa, ossia il complotto che due truffatori – la giovane e graziosa Sook-hee e il vanitoso “Conte” Fujiwara – ordiscono ai danni di Lady Hideko, ricchissima nipote di Kozuki e sua promessa sposa, si rovescia progressivamente svelando un lato oscuro speculare e opposto, che a sua volta viene stravolto dall’irrompere della passione amorosa.Hideko, nipote della moglie defunta di Kozuki e tormentata dal suicidio della zia, ha subìto fin da bambina dal bibliofilo malato di mente, o semplicemente malvagio e ossessionato, un’educazione degna del Marchese De Sade, fra percosse, limitazioni, moniti, terribili storie di orchi nascosti negli angoli della camera e pronti a soffocare la bimba con il loro corpo (narrate dalla sinistra governante Sasaki, prima moglie ripudiata di Kozuki), minacce di indescrivibili punizioni, lezioni di lettura su argomenti inadatti alla sua età. Tutto questo allo scopo di prepararla a sostituire la zia nelle “sedute di lettura” che periodicamente l’uomo organizza per intrattenere gli amici. Nella biblioteca in cui domina il nitore di un giardino zen, Hideko indossando un costume tradizionale, legge composta i rari testi pornografici collezionati dallo zio (che mira a impalmarla proprio per poter alimentare all’infinito la sua mania, grazie al patrimonio della ragazza, acquisendone di nuovi). Con pause e tonalità di perfetta eleganza riesce far vibrare come una musica pagine che di per sé sarebbero solo squallide.Chiusa in un assoluto riserbo, staccata dal corpo e dalle pulsioni, fredda come un uccello d’acqua, Hideko aspira alla libertà. E Fujiwara racconta a Sook-hee il piano escogitato per sedurla, sposarla e, una volta arrivati in Giappone, farla dichiarare pazza e internarla in manicomio. Il ruolo di Sook-hee è quello di introdursi nella casa come ancella di Hideko e manipolarne la psiche per indurla a sposare Fujiwara. Questo ci viene fatto credere nella prima parte, mentre nella seconda si alzano i veli della storia e veniamo a sapere che l’accordo è fra Fujiwara e la stessa Hideko: contrarre un matrimonio “bianco” e far internare Sook-hee con l’identità di Hideko, in modo che Kozuki non abbia più motivo di cercarli.Risuona anche l’eco di Rashomon nel raffinato montaggio di scene mostrate in momenti diversi da un’altra angolazione. E del Bergman di Fanny e Alexander nelle fiabe spaventose raccontate da Sasaki con intenti di vendetta e riscatto.Il meccanismo assemblato da Fujiwara sembra perfetto, eppure succede qualcosa che, sottotraccia, a poco a poco, ne inceppa il movimento. Qualcosa di eversivo. Nella confidenza quotidiana dei corpi e dello spirito, nei gesti di cura ripetuti ogni giorno dall’ancella – il bagno profumato che sprigiona lieve vapore di essenze e di pelle diafana, luminosa, nel vestire e nello spogliare la Signorina dalla bellezza quasi irreale – germina in entrambe la passione inducendo Hideko alla reciprocità, a cercare nell’altra fanciulla il doppio, il rifugio, la famiglia mai avuta e, durante una cerimonia in cui le ragazze sciolgono a vicenda, piano piano, i lacci dei corsetti ricamati – mostrati quasi al microscopio nel loro sinuoso abbandonarsi alle dita – l’amante.Si procede per slittamenti progressivi, che né ragione né volontà possono arrestare. Una caramella il cui succo passa da una bocca all’altra, diventando da amaro aspro, da aspro dolce, da dolce salato, salmastro. Poi i corpi cercano con delicatezza, ed ebbrezza elegante, i molti modi per unirsi, per cercare il piacere stupefatto, dissetato. Compongono forme perlacee simmetriche abbaglianti, ricadono in abbracci innamorati. Il Tempio di Giada dischiude i suoi petali. Le mani si uniscono tracciando la linea orizzontale di una corda, tesa fra le due ragazze sospese sulla corrente dell’eros, metafora di un’unione solidale salvifica.Arriveranno presto a confidarsi i piani contrapposti, quello fittizio e quello reale, in cui Fujiwara le aveva imprigionate, per costruirne un terzo che avrà esito felice. Le due fanciulle riusciranno a espatriare – dopo aver distrutto i libri pornografici di Kozuki -, fuggendo verso un’esistenza libera e (si presume e si auspica) felice, mentre Fujiwara, dopo essere stato seviziato e mutilato da Kozuki nel sotterraneo della villa, avvelenerà entrambi con il fumo freddo e blu di una sigaretta al mercurio.

R. Code B