Review: Mademoiselle (The Handmaiden)
Mademoiselle.
Park Chan-Wook is a superb director. In Mademoiselle, we are transported to a mysterious country house in Korea that is under Japanese rule. Sook-Hee (Kim Tae-Ri) who presents herself as Okju (Tamako is her Japanese name), is asked to be the handmaiden of the beautiful and rich Hideko (Kim Min-Hee) by Count Fujiwara (Jung-Woo Ha), who is a fraud who wants access to Hideko’s fortune.
Though when feelings start developing between the two women, Tamako feels remorse for going through with the plan of locking Hideko up and painting her as a crazy woman. But when they arrive at the psychiatry ward, we’re not sure what to believe. Who really is Hideko?
The film is divided into three parts, which show the point of view of different characters. We start with Sook-Hee’s side of the story before seeing Hideko and finishing with Count Fujiwara’s side.
Mademoiselle.
The English version is known as The Handmaiden while the original is called Agassi. Park delivers a beautiful film with breathtaking landscapes of nature and traditional Japanese rooms. A very erotic film with a romance between women.
Some scenes in Mademoiselle will leave you speechless and holding your breath to know how the story will unfold.
Mademoiselle is now playing in theatres.
