Well-made, but I wanted something grittier

Leofwine_draca

I admit to being a little disappointed when I found out that master film-maker Park Chan-wook's latest film would be THE HANDMAIDEN, a remake of a lesbian romantic drama filmed by the BBC as FINGERSMITH. This one relocates a tale of Victorian London to South Korea, where a murky plot involves mucho double-crossing as a con man decides to employ a maid to help him seduce a Japanese heiress due to inherit a fortune.

Like the rest of Park Chan-wook's output, this is an expertly-made piece of drama, with sumptuous costumes and filmography, and fine performances from the cast. A pity, then, that it turns out to be merely a romantic drama with a few dark twists. The emphasis is on explicit sex throughout. Imagine if the director had instead put his talents to making another film like OLDBOY - now that would have been something special. This lengthy, languidly-paced film has some good storytelling methods and nice twists throughout, but otherwise it feels disappointingly shallow.

score 6/10

Leofwine_draca 9 September 2017

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3801214/