Not Your Usual Tragic Lesbian Period Piece
The Handmaiden is based on Fingersmith (2002) by British lesbian author Sarah Waters.The Handmaiden (2016) moves the story to 1930s Japanese-occupied Korea and then just starts pulling the rug out from under you every twenty minutes.
A pickpocket named Sook-hee (working under the alias Tamako) is recruited by a swindler known as Count Fujiwara. His plan is for Sook-hee to become the handmaiden to Lady Hideko, a wealthy and secluded Japanese heiress living with her domineering uncle, Kouzuki (in a beautifully gothic mansion, I must say). Sook-hee is tasked with convincing Hideko to marry the Count, after which they intend to commit her to an asylum and steal her inheritance.
What I love is how it takes the whole doomed, repressed lesbian period drama expectation and just refuses to sit in that box. The longing is there, the tension is there, but it doesn’t wallow in suffering. It’s messy, funny, horny, and, crucially, it lets its women be active participants in their own story instead of just tragic figures trapped in it.
And yeah, the sex scenes. People always circle those, and yes, they should've had a sapphic intimacy coordinator. But at the same time, the characters’ only frame of reference is those pornographic books, so it kind of makes sense? Regardless, even when parts of the love scenes feel inauthentic, the connection between the leads is incredibly intimate and powerful. The sex scenes do NEED to be there, they’re kind of the point. Not in a cheap way, but in a “this is what reclaiming your own body actually looks like” way. It’s deeply moving because it’s the only time these women are allowed to be fully real and liberated.
The acting overall is pretty much pitch perfect, especially the two leads. They start with this ice princess / nurturing maid dynamic that slowly evolves into something much more intimate as the layers they’re hiding are revealed, both emotionally and physically. And honestly, that dynamic has clearly had a huge impact. You can see versions of it everywhere now, across sapphic series, manga and manhwa.
Also, the movie is just outrageously good-looking. Chung Chung-hoon shoots this like every frame is trying to seduce you personally. The house alone deserves its own credit, all sharp edges and hidden spaces, like it’s constantly watching the characters right back. Besides being a thriller, erotic, and a bit of a heist movie, I mainly see it as a gothic romance. In fact, I’d go as far as to say it might be the greatest gothic romance film ever made.
There are some things here and there I wish were done differently (less time spent on the men in the last part, for one), and a few moments I could’ve done without, but it doesn’t really take away from the overall experience. The final reveal is one of the best feelings I’ve ever had watching a movie. And that library scene is just incredibly moving.
It’s vicious, beautiful, horny, scary, romantic, playful, a little bit feral (in the best way). And underneath all the twists and schemes, there’s something incredibly satisfying about a story where women who desire each other don’t get reduced to a cautionary tale.
It has resonated deeply with many Korean women for its sharp, satirical dismantling of colonial and patriarchal structures. It’s a film that understands that the most dangerous thing in a man’s world is two women who love each other.
Genuinely one of those films that makes you want to immediately rewatch it just to see how it pulled everything off. It’s now regarded as one of the best films ever made, and that honestly makes me very happy.
4.5/5
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