The Handmaiden (Korean film): A truly wonderful film filled with surprises

I really enjoy Korean cinema because at least in some categories of films they are not predictable like most movies from Hollywood are. The "good guys" lose as often as they win in Korean films and often it isn't even very easy to determine who the good guys even are until the film totally wraps up.

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The fact that this movie looks a bit old-timey might scare some people away but please don't let yourself be one of those people because this movie gets moving very quickly. It takes place during a time when Japanese soldiers still occupied Korea but they don't bother with focusing on that too much nor do they attempt to make some sort of political statement about it even though these were pretty rough times for Koreans. Imagine that Hollywood! People can just makes movies without having some sort of educational trickery to push a message of some sort! It is possible as it turns out.

I am going to be quite vague with the story here because the surprises that happen along the way in the 3 parts of this film fall into place so wonderfully by the time it wraps up.

So there is a group of thieves that live in a small and rather impoverished Korean town and one of the admired leaders of the group named Count Fujiwara has spent many years investigating a heir to a fortune who lives on a nearby estate. She is a lovely looking woman who is meant to be Japanese but is played by a Korean actress. Her name is Izumi Hideko and she lives with her overbearing uncle who has been put in charge of her affairs until she marries. The uncle, not wanting to miss out of the fortune plans to marry her himself and while it is not evident or even spoken about what it is that he is waiting for, we need that wait in order for the story to unfold.

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The Count intends to plant a new handmaiden for the Lady heiress in the estate that is part of his little gang of pickpocket criminals and as a duo they are meant to manipulate her into falling in love with him so that he can take control of her inheritance and then get her locked up in a mental hospital where she will be killed.

If this sounds like a spoiler it is not. This plan is revealed to us in the first 10 minutes of the film and it is likely in the trailer as well.

So what makes this film so amazing isn't necessarily the plot to commit fraud so much as how it changes so many times throughout the 2+ hours of the film. If you know my style you already know that I don't tolerate movies that are over 2 hours long but this was one that even though I had to read all of it, that I was very happy to sit through all of.

The actors and actresses are all exceptional in this and their commitment to professionalism is just amazing. Kim Min-hee and Kim Tae-ri are amazing and the emotion that they bring out in the audience is something that you don't often see in a movie.

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The bond that they form with one another is very believable and touching and that is what make the ploy that the maid and the count have with one another to defraud her so heartbreaking. You'll see what I am talking about as the movie progresses.

Now here is something that I need to warn you about. Do NOT watch this movie with your parents or children because it is extremely sexually graphic. The fact that these actors and actresses were able to get these scenes done, which must have taken a lot of takes is something very admirable. Love scenes are something that actors and actresses talk about being quite difficult but when you see what I am talking about in this one, you'll understand why it is that I admire their commitment to their craft so much.
Also, there is a lot of language-swapping going on from Japanese to Korean and while I do not speak either of these languages and cannot attest to the accuracy of the actors and actresses in it, I admire the fact that they didn't overdub any of it and the actors really are speaking both languages. You hear that Jared Leto? They actually learned the language they were speaking in a film!

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I've intentionally left the more graphic images out of this because I am not trying to promote porn or anything and that is NOT what this movie is. It is very sexually graphic yes, so be a bit cautious about who it is that you decide to watch this with.

Should I watch it?

It should be abundantly clear that I think yes, you should watch it but like I said above it is very graphic and I would be uncomfortable watching this with my relatives but maybe that is just me. The sexual aspects of the movie are necessary to the plot so this isn't just some slasher movies that have boobies in it for the sheer hell of it. This highly regarded and heavily praised film managed to turn a relatively huge profit around the world for a Korean film.

Even though I already am a big fan of Korean cinema, this is up there in what I consider to be the top-10 Korean movies ever made. I consider it to be a "must see."