Hot Takes

Time to drop a bomb...

Right now, I can tell that pretty much all you are looking at the rating I'm giving to this and thinking, "What the hell is wrong with you?" Well, allow me to explain.

I feel like when it comes to movie like this that I feel this way overall on, I always fall back on this same phrase, but: I undoubtedly admired this film on a technical level, but on a story one, it didn't really work for me. So, Park Chan-Wook's direction here is impressive and commendable, with immaculate construction, production-wise, and a very strong sense of pace for a film that's 2 1/2 hours in length. Another thing he does that works is that despite making a period piece with this film, Chan-Wook manages to infuse this thing with a decidedly modern energy and sensibilities that eschew the stuffy quality that films like this would normally have. A lot of other people have already called this film almost Hitchcockian in nature, and being a massive fan of Alfred Hitchcock myself, I definitely agree with that. Its narrative twists and turns with a certain panache that only a skilled storyteller could pull off.

But about that narrative...

Here's where my problems come into play. Since watching this movie, I've discussed it with a close friend of mine who feels similarly as I do (which is partly why it took me so long to write this up), and she coined a phrase to describe this story that gets at my issues with it, mostly: Convenient Lesbianism. What I mean by that is, did making the two main female characters of this story lesbians who fall in love strike me as absolutely necessary for the story? And, I'm probably going to incite...spirited debate when I say this, but no. I can pick up on a certain underlying tension between the two characters, sure, but let me put it this way: did it need to be romantic love specifically? Couldn't they have just formed a deep friendship or sisterly bond or something and done the same thing ultimately, with the story largely playing out the same? And my opinion is yes. Part of the core of this story is the bond that these two characters form ultimately motivating them to take matters into their own hands and make their own plan, essentially a con within a con. But again, I just feel like the film could've achieved the same goal if this had simply been a deep platonic friendship or a sisterly relationship. The sex just seemed superfluous in the long run, and the romance a pretty big leap.

Which leads me to another point: I feel like all the sexual perversion that Hidekao's Uncle subjected her to as a child would've turned anybody off of wanting to have a sexual relationship in the future. Like, they'd want nothing to do with it. Not so much "Hey, pretty girl, touch my boobs." So the fact that Hidekao seemed rather unfazed by the idea of sex after all that...okay, that's an interesting aspect of the character that the film could've explored...had it actually devoted screentime to that instead of all the sex scenes that felt like they were masquerading as a deep, meaningful relationship between the two girls. The inclusion of their romance, as well as all of the weird sex stuff and literature that the Uncle was into and sharing with others, felt -- to me -- like they were put in here mostly for the sake of shock value. Which just makes this movie frustrating, because the bare bones of it ARE very solid and promising and intriguing. It's just that it went down a particular path with them that struck me as disingenuous. And if I'm alone in that opinion, so be it.

Oh, and I also think that toward the end, the movie starts to stretch on a bit too much.

I don't imagine I'll make any friends with this review of The Handmaiden, but I have to be honest and true here. I'm genuinely glad that it works so well for so many people...but I'm just not one of them.