The Handmaiden
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The Moonlight essay
CinemaThe Handmaiden and Reclaiming a Story From Desire, Performance and ControlRead the essayStoryline
The whole story, ending included.
A con in colonial-era Korea, told three times, in which two women out-plot the men, including the uncle who trained his niece to read erotica aloud to his guests.
Korea, 1939, under Japanese rule. Sook-hee, an orphan raised by a gang of thieves, is recruited by a con man who calls himself Count Fujiwara. His plan is to court the Japanese heiress Hideko, marry her, have her committed to an asylum and take her fortune; Sook-hee is to become her maid and steer her towards him. Hideko lives in a vast house with her uncle Kouzuki, a Korean collaborator who married into Japanese nobility and collects rare books. Sook-hee finds herself falling for the lady she is meant to betray, and one night, on the pretext of teaching her what a wife should know, sleeps with her. Still she pushes her towards the Count. While Kouzuki is away, Hideko and Fujiwara elope with Sook-hee in tow, and at the asylum the doors close on Sook-hee: the other two have tricked her into being committed in Hideko's place.
The second part tells the story again from Hideko's side. Kouzuki has abused her since she was five, training her to read erotic books aloud to the men who come to bid for his collection. Her aunt, who read before her, was found dead in the garden, and Kouzuki tells Hideko he killed her when she tried to run away. The Count had made Hideko his partner, and a maid was to be the sacrifice. But Hideko fell in love with Sook-hee. After they quarrel, she tries to take her own life; Sook-hee saves her, they confess everything, and together they wreck the library.
In the third part the women turn the con on the men. Sook-hee's old companions set fire to the asylum and get her out. Fujiwara tries to rape Hideko on what he calls their wedding night, but she has drugged his wine, and she leaves with the money. The women meet and escape, Hideko dressed as a man. Kouzuki, warned by a letter from Hideko, captures Fujiwara and tortures him in his cellar for details of his niece's wedding night. Fujiwara refuses, and takes his own life in a way that kills Kouzuki with him. On a ferry to Shanghai, Hideko and Sook-hee make love, free.
Starring
Kim Min-heeas Lady Hideko
A Japanese heiress raised in isolation by her uncle, who has been made to read erotic books to his guests since childhood.
Lady Hideko’s story
Hideko has been abused by her uncle Kouzuki since she was five, trained to read erotic books aloud to the men who come to bid for his collection. Her aunt, who read before her, was found dead in the garden, and Kouzuki tells Hideko he killed her for trying to run away. So when the con man Fujiwara offers marriage and escape, she agrees on one condition: that he find a maid who can be committed to an asylum in her name. Then she falls in love with the maid, Sook-hee. After a quarrel she tries to take her own life; Sook-hee saves her, they confess everything and wreck the library together. Hideko marries Fujiwara as planned, drugs his wine, leaves with the money and, dressed as a man, meets Sook-hee. On a ferry to Shanghai they are free.
Kim Tae-rias Sook-hee
A pickpocket raised by thieves, placed in the house as Hideko's maid to help swindle her, who falls in love with her.
Sook-hee’s story
Sook-hee is an orphan raised by thieves who look after abandoned babies and sell them, and she takes Fujiwara's offer because her share will make her free. Placed in the house as Hideko's maid, Tamako, she sleeps at her mistress's side and falls in love with the woman she is meant to deliver to the Count; on the pretext of teaching her what a wife should know, she sleeps with her, then still urges her to marry him. When Hideko tries to take her own life, Sook-hee saves her, hears the truth about Kouzuki and destroys his library with her. Committed to the asylum in Hideko's name, as the two women have planned, she is freed when her old companions set it on fire, and sails for Shanghai with Hideko.
Ha Jung-wooas Count Fujiwara
A con man calling himself a Japanese count, who plans to marry Hideko for her fortune and discard both women.
Count Fujiwara’s story
Fujiwara is a con man passing as a Japanese count. His plan is to marry the heiress Hideko, have her committed to an asylum and take her fortune, and he places Sook-hee in the house as her maid to help him. Secretly he has already made Hideko his partner, promising her escape and half the inheritance. He comes to the house as her drawing teacher, marries her and sees Sook-hee committed in her place. At a hotel afterwards he tells Hideko that Sook-hee will be dead within days; that night Hideko drugs his wine and leaves with the money. Kouzuki, warned by her letter, has him seized and tortures him in his cellar for details of his niece's wedding night. Fujiwara refuses to give them, and takes his own life in a way that kills Kouzuki with him.
Cho Jin-woongas Kouzuki
Hideko's uncle and guardian, a Korean collaborator and collector of erotic books who has abused her since childhood.
Moon So-rias Hideko's aunt
Kouzuki's wife, who read for his guests before Hideko and was found dead in the garden.
Why it matters
The Handmaiden moves Sarah Waters's Victorian novel Fingersmith to Korea under Japanese rule, so that a story about women escaping the men who own them becomes also a story about collaboration and class, full of Koreans passing as Japanese in a house run on other people's appetites. Its central crime is the grooming of a child into a reader for men's pleasure, and the women's revenge is literal: they tear the library apart. The explicit sex between them divided critics. Laura Miller at Slate called it a set of pornographic clichés; Waters herself thought the film faithful to her novel's picture of women taking over a male pornographic tradition to explore their own desire. It won the BAFTA for Best Film Not in the English Language. Under all its twists it is a love story about two women who were each meant to be the other's victim.