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The Handmaiden

The Handmaiden

Thriller · Drama · Romance · 2016

1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sook-hee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.

Movie details

The Handmaiden

“You're the one being tricked.”

2016 Thriller · Drama · Romance 2h 25m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

8.1 / 10

199.1K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

96 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

85 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

8.2 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sook-hee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Handmaiden?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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The French Lieutenant's Woman

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Untold Scandal

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Unfaithful

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Fair Play

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An unexpected promotion at a cutthroat hedge fund pushes a young couple's relationship to the brink, threatening to unravel not only their recent engagement but their lives.

The Scarlet Letter

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Park Chan-wook

Written by

Park Chan-wook · Chung Seo-kyung

Kim Min-hee

Kim Min-hee

Lady Hideko

Kim Tae-ri

Kim Tae-ri

Sook-hee

Ha Jung-woo

Ha Jung-woo

Count Fujiwara

Cho Jin-woong

Cho Jin-woong

Uncle Kouzuki

Kim Hae-sook

Kim Hae-sook

Ms. Sasaki

Moon So-ri

Moon So-ri

Hideko's Aunt

Lee Yong-nyeo

Lee Yong-nyeo

Bok-soon

Court is in session

Put The Handmaiden on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.