{"id":6732,"date":"2016-05-15T10:14:08","date_gmt":"2016-05-15T09:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=6732"},"modified":"2017-04-07T03:56:42","modified_gmt":"2017-04-07T02:56:42","slug":"the-handmaiden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2016\/05\/15\/the-handmaiden\/","title":{"rendered":"The Handmaiden"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The Handmaiden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\nSeen at Cannes International Film Festival 2016<\/a>

\nFormat:<\/B> Cinema

\nRelease date:<\/B> 14 April 2017

\nDistributor:<\/B> Curzon Artificial Eye

\nDirector:<\/B> Park Chan-wook

\nWriter:<\/B> Park Chan-wook, Chung Seo-kyung

\nBased on the novel Fingersmith<\/i> by:<\/B> Sarah Waters

\nCast:<\/B> Kim Min-hee, Ha Jung-woo, Cho Jin-woong, Kim Tae-ri

\nOriginal title:<\/B> Agassi<\/i>

\nSouth Korea 2016

\n145 mins\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Park Chan-wook’s latest film is fuelled with surprises, and they are a pure joy to witness unfold.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Set in the Japanese-occupied Korea of the 1930s, a con man known as Count Fujiwara (Jung-woo Ha) involves the equally beautiful and talented Sookee (Kim Tae-ri) in his deceitful plan to marry a Japanese noblewoman (Kim Min-hee) in order to strip her of her inheritance. However, soon after Sookee has been employed as Lady Hideko\u2019s maid, her criminal intents waver as she gradually falls in love with her beguiling mistress. While a perverted uncle uses Hideko for his own pleasures by making her read to him and his business partners from his massive collection of antique erotica, a secret passion develops between the two women, forcing them to choose between lies or love as the sexual tension reaches its climax. <\/p>\n

As is the case with most of Park\u2019s œuvre, nothing in The Handmaiden<\/I> is as it seems. The plot is deliciously twisted, while perceptions and truths are consistently challenged. And as elaborate as it may seem at first sight, the story never unravels or confuses. Park has delivered a film that is fuelled with surprises, and they are a pure joy to witness unfold. <\/p>\n

Following his first foray into Hollywood cinema with his impressive English language debut Stoker<\/i><\/a>, the Korean director returns to his homeland with yet another masterwork. The Handmaiden<\/i> is a gorgeously crafted tale of crooks and lovers, sex and lies, perversion and pleasure. The way Park uses colours and locations is pure cinematic seduction, luring the viewer into an intoxicating web of desires and deceptions that is impossible to resist. <\/p>\n

Pamela Jahn<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

This review is part of our Cannes 2016 coverage<\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Park Chan-wook’s latest film is fuelled with surprises, and they are a pure joy to witness unfold.
\nReview by Pamela Jahn<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,6],"tags":[1046,586],"class_list":["post-6732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-check-it-out","category-festivals","tag-cannes","tag-park-chan-wook"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"Cannes International Film Festival 2016","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/purUP-1KA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":768,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2009\/10\/04\/thirst\/","url_meta":{"origin":6732,"position":0},"title":"THIRST","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"October 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Athough Thirst, joint winner of the Jury Prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival, lacks its predecessor's shocking originality, Park's formidable talents still result in a flawed but entertainingly perverse love story, one that's also a thriller, a horror film and a black comedy. Review by Sarah Cronin","rel":"","context":"In "Cinema releases"","block_context":{"text":"Cinema releases","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/cinema-releases\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Thirst","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/review_thirst-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":324,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2008\/04\/01\/im-a-cyborg\/","url_meta":{"origin":6732,"position":1},"title":"I’M A CYBORG","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"April 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"After three films that revelled in such dark issues as organ theft, incest and child kidnapping, wrapped in the key theme of revenge, it seems understandable that Park Chan-wook chose a lighter tone for his next project, the inventively titled I'm A Cyborg, But That's OK. Review by James Merchant","rel":"","context":"In "Cinema releases"","block_context":{"text":"Cinema releases","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/cinema-releases\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2625,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2013\/03\/01\/stoker\/","url_meta":{"origin":6732,"position":2},"title":"Stoker","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"March 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Park Chan-wook's first Hollywood film is a sexually deviant tale of lust, jealousy and the very unenviable task of coming of age. Review by Evrim Ersoy","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/review_Stoker-594x328.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/review_Stoker-594x328.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/review_Stoker-594x328.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2072,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2011\/12\/06\/best-festival-films-of-2011\/","url_meta":{"origin":6732,"position":3},"title":"Best Festival Films of 2011","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"December 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Electric Sheep writers review the best films seen at festivals in 2011, including Shame and Once upon a Time in Anatolia.","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Nightfishing.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Nightfishing.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Nightfishing.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2247,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2012\/04\/02\/lady-snowblood-blizzard-from-the-netherworld\/","url_meta":{"origin":6732,"position":4},"title":"Lady Snowblood: Blizzard from the Netherworld","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"April 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Lady Snowblood started her life as the heroine of a manga written by Kazuo Koike in the early 70s, before being incarnated by the actress Meiko Kaji. Review by Virginie Sélavy","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/ladysnowblood_1024-594x445.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/ladysnowblood_1024-594x445.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/ladysnowblood_1024-594x445.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":351,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2008\/06\/01\/paranoia-agent\/","url_meta":{"origin":6732,"position":5},"title":"PARANOIA AGENT","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"June 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The ground-breaking anim\u00e9 series Paranoia Agent first aired on Japanese TV in the spring of 2004 and has recently been re-released in a beautifully packaged thin box-set. Written and directed by Satoshi Kon, the man behind Perfect Blue and Tokyo Godfathers, Paranoia Agent focuses on a seemingly random set of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Home entertainment"","block_context":{"text":"Home entertainment","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/dvds-and-blu-rays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6732"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6801,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6732\/revisions\/6801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}