The Handmaiden is a pretty perfect film that gets there because it doesn’t censor itself. There’s an unabashed excess to the way it indulges in sex and violence, in a way that a work of more “esteemed” art houseness never would and it comes out on top. The Handmaiden is sexy, funny, terrifying, and best of all touching. It could not have been too. Take this schlocky premise in lieu of Dangerous Liaisons and rob it of the explicit and roughly visceral content that it’s director Park Chan-Wook is so famous for and you’ve got a nice old lesbian love story that in its schlocky ness lacks the bite of anything (ie what Cruel Intentions did to the aforementioned Liaisons), but that’s not what happens here. Wook (and his screenwriter, Seo-kyeong Jeong) is able to work with all the disturbing, yet passionate toolbox he’s always been known for and in that he elevates The Handmaiden. You need to give these passionate stories some arteries that take them from just soap operas to reality and a good dose of explicit and exciting material does just that. It’s also helpful that Wook might just be one of the best filmmakers in the world. Part of the reason why these types of stories are often just “schlocky” is because they’re too often they’re afforded the filmmaking prowess of a simpleton who knows how to do a flat shot, reverse shot and not the guy who did Oldboy. Great direction can take the wild, unkempt emotions of a piece like this and treat them properly. Sexual lust is a feeling that has been bastardized but only by human creations. It in fact when presented at face value is incredibly beautiful. Wook has the smarts to present it as such. That actually leads nicely into the main point of what makes The Handmaiden so well crafted and it’s content so necessary (other than the previously mentioned fact that it really gives the film some life). The story and characters actions revolve around the interpretation of this lust and what it means, and when two characters react to it by falling deeply in love it’s touching, and when another reacts to it by chopping a man’s fingers off in the pursuit of more, it’s funny. The Handmaiden is special because other than just bolstering its world with graphic content, it’s literally built on such content and the way that humanities lustful idiocies manifest themselves. The fact that the cast at the center of the film here, namely Min-hee Kim and Tae-ri Kim (no relation) are turning in some of the best work I’ve seen from this genre since Lust Caution certainly makes The Handmaiden a must see. This is truly the best foreign film I’ve seen all year (Elle comes to me next month). A film based on lustful emotion that isn’t scared to delve as deep as possible into them. Park Chan-Wook has made an excellent follow up to Stoker. The Handmaiden gets a 9.5 out of 10.
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December 2017
CategoriesAuthorHello welcome to FilmAnalyst. My name is Stephen Tronicek, and I really like movies. This is a way to get my opinions out to people. Thank you for visiting. |