The Handmaiden Review | TIFF 2016

<p>Stylish and deceptively complex&comma; Park Chan-wook proves&comma; once again&comma; with <em>The Handmaiden <&sol;em>that there are plenty of ways to spin a story&period; A romance wrapped inside of a caper&comma; his latest film approaches sexuality and storytelling in interesting and daring ways&period; Anchored by a cast that has a lot to do&comma; with a script that is nuanced and sprinkled with mystery&comma; there are only minor blemishes to fault <em>The Handmaiden <&sol;em>with &&num;8211&semi; blemishes that are easy to ignore&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The story begins quite simply&comma; as a Korean thief&comma; Sookee &lpar;Kim Tae-ri&rpar; is tasked with duping a wealthy&comma; Japanese heiress&comma; Lady Hideko &lpar;Kim Min-hee&rpar;&comma; into a marriage that will provide a grifter&comma; Fujiwara &lpar;Ha Jung-woo&rpar; with her inheritance after committing her to a mental hospital&period; The scheme is simple&comma; but requires hard work on Sookee&&num;8217&semi;s and Fujiwara&&num;8217&semi;s parts&period; Split into three parts&comma; Park deftly establishes nuances early on and prepares viewers for ebbs and flows that will ideally amount to something climactic and fruitful&period; At times humorous&comma; with plenty of thrilling components&comma; the script is by far one of the film&&num;8217&semi;s strongest parts&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; the screenplay is also the part that has the most laborious task&period; The film consistently carries an undercurrent of sexual tension and mystery&period; This tends to lead to a lot of build&comma; with very little release &lpar;pun intended&rpar;&period; Billing this as an erotic thriller is not too far off because of how heavily its explorations of sexuality tie into the plot&period; Sensual imagery lingers&comma; burning slowly as you wait for someone to react extremely&period; Restraint goes a long way into making the entire last hour of <em>The Handmaiden <&sol;em>palpably emotional&period; Mix with that the moments of levity that comedy serves&comma; and you have a strong relationship between all the characters that lends itself well to empathizing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;112795" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-112795" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-112795 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;09&sol;08133300&sol;handmaiden&lowbar;01-1024x683&period;jpg" alt&equals;"The Handmaiden" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"667" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-112795" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>The Handmaiden<&sol;em>&comma; Moho Film&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>If anything&comma; the difficult part to stomach on occasion is the film&&num;8217&semi;s first major twist&comma; which immediately pushes you away and then tries to reel you back in just as fast&period; The ebbs and flows are more often found in the second act of the film&comma; as it keeps pushing and pulling away from you&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s hard not to describe <em>The Handmaiden<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s script as a sexual experience&comma; because the erotic moments are just as memorable as the moments when you&&num;8217&semi;re left wanting&period; Plus&comma; the second act introduces a level of darkness that now serves as the undercurrent to the sexuality&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Language and country also play a huge component in the film&period; Park explores tensions between Korean and Japanese peoples&comma; constantly switching between languages spoken when suitable&period; It fits in context of the film&comma; and helps to underline the film&&num;8217&semi;s surface-level ideas of there being potentially different views of a single situation&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s used both to add flavor and to serve as a plot device&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There is also one major character who is difficult not to enjoy as well as discuss&period; Park has very much dealt with characters who have had influence on other major characters&comma; and Hideko&&num;8217&semi;s uncle &lpar;Cho Jin-woong&rpar; is another one to add to his collection&period; In the first act&comma; he adds humor to the film&comma; but he also remains an ever-present character in the backdrop&period; The first introduction to him is memorable&comma; but also foreshadows a far more complicated film than what is on the surface&period; It isn&&num;8217&semi;t until his physical presence is far more common that you realize how much of an allegory he is for the director&comma; Park Chan-wook&period; As a book collector and avid fan of stories&comma; he serves as the central focus of how important stories are and why perspective matters so much&period; He is also one of the more eccentric characters of the film&comma; providing both levity and tension&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;112799" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-112799" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-112799 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;09&sol;08133651&sol;handmaiden&lowbar;03-1024x683&period;jpg" alt&equals;"The Handmaiden" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"667" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-112799" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>The Handmaiden<&sol;em>&comma; Moho Film&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em>The Handmaiden <&sol;em>never ceases to feel entertaining&period; When it&&num;8217&semi;s not creating a complicated relationship between its characters&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s looking marvelous with production design that is out of this world&period; The score is very reminiscent of Park&&num;8217&semi;s last film&comma; <em>Stoker<&sol;em>&comma; which gives it a sense of aristocracy and dread&period; Its entire aesthetic feels calculated&period; In addition&comma; there&&num;8217&semi;s a style that echoes his previous efforts and feels wholly his own&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I think there is far too much to appreciate in <em>The Handmaiden<&sol;em> than immediately catches the eye&period; It starts with a slow burn and fools you into thinking this is a traditional romance&period; But its use of sexuality as a way to tell an intricate story is incredible&period; Park continues to demonstrate why he is one of the greatest directors working out of South Korea today&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;