Review of The Handmaiden (2016) by Amadouiraklidis — 06 Oct 2022

I did not find it as good as the score here did. That aside, it was a decent film. In terms of sensuality, I was a bit disappointed. It was all I could hear about the film, and how it would be tense, and when the tooth scene came up so quickly and intensely, I was intrigued for the rest of the movie.

But it let up, and there wasn't much sensuality that was as engaging aside from the first bed scene. I believe that the reception of the movie as extremely sexy perhaps has more to do with the lesbian aspect of the film as opposed to the actual sensual aspect.

And perhaps that also has to do with lesbianism in South Korea, though I don't know much on the topic. Something disappointing as well was that the twists in the plot became somewhat predictable. The first one was surprising, though not in a way that sticks with the viewer.

I think that they shot the scenes with different takes to change subtly change the interactions of the characters across the parts, like in American Psycho with Bale and Dafoe, but it's only my impression, I'm not sure.

All in all, a pretty decent movie.