Part of Queer Qlassics
Ten years after its debut in 2016, THE HANDMAIDEN returns to the Belcourt. Adapted from the Sarah Waters’ 2002 sapphic novel Fingersmith set in Victorian Britain, director Park Chan-wook (NO OTHER CHOICE, STOKER) and his longtime co-writer Jeong Seo-kyeong (DECISION TO LEAVE, LADY VENGEANCE) make this story their own by placing it in Japanese-occupied Korea in the early 20th century.
A Korean pickpocket Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri) takes a job as a handmaiden to Japanese heiress Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee) in order to convince her to marry her con artist associate (Ha Jung-woo) who’s posing under the pseudonym Count Fujiwara. Upon marrying Hideko, Fujiwara plans to commit Hideko to an asylum and abscond with her inheritance. This seemingly simple gambit quickly falls apart when Hideko falls for Sook-hee instead.
THE HANDMAIDEN was named the best non-English language film in 2016 by the Alliance of Women Film Journalists and the best foreign film that year by the Women Film Critics Circle. It’s a beautiful, dizzying, jaw-dropping masterpiece.
“THE HANDMAIDEN is a nearly flawless movie. Every frame, every movement of the camera, every performance feels perfectly calibrated for maximum effect.” — Emily St. James, Vox “Expectations are fully met in Park Chan-wook’s exquisitely filmed THE HANDMAIDEN…an amusingly kinky erotic thriller and love story that brims with delicious surprises, making its two-and-a-half hours fly by.” —Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter “This is a film made by an artist at the peak of his powers…. THE HANDMAIDEN stirs the senses by appealing to our gut feelings, our sense of morals and ethics, and our appreciation for the sight of great artists making magic as if it’s the easiest thing in the world.” —Matt Zoller Seitz, rogerebert.com “The drama combines the sumptuous art direction and black humor of Park's past work with a warmth and compassion that feeds the soul.” — Li Sian Goh, Bitch Media
