The Handmaiden
You're the one being tricked.
Production
Budget
$8 800 000
Revenue
$37 798 352
Director
Scenario
Sarah Waters
Author
Composer
Producer
Syd Lim
Actors
Kim Min-hee
Lady Hideko
Kim Tae-ri
Sook-hee
Ha Jung-woo
Count Fujiwara
Cho Jin-woong
Uncle Kouzuki
Kim Hae-sook
Ms. Sasaki
Moon So-ri
Hideko's Aunt
Lee Yong-nyeo
Bok-soon
Kwak Eun-jin
Kkeut-dan
Short description
Set in 1930s Korea under Japanese colonial rule, The Handmaiden centres on Sook-hee, a young pickpocket who takes a position as maid to Lady Hideko, a sheltered heiress living on a large country estate with her domineering uncle Kouzuki. Sook-hee has been placed there by a con man passing himself off as a Japanese count, whose plan is to court Hideko, marry her and take control of her fortune, with Sook-hee's help. What develops between the two women complicates that arrangement. The film is a drama, romance and thriller drawn from Park Chan-wook and Chung Seo-kyung's screenplay, with Kim Min-hee as Hideko, Kim Tae-ri as Sook-hee, Ha Jung-woo as the false count and Cho Jin-woong as the uncle.
The Handmaiden was the ninth film Park Chan-wook directed, arriving after Stoker and before Decision to Leave. It was produced by Syd Lim for CJ Entertainment, Moho Film and Yong Film on a budget of about 9 million dollars, and it took roughly 38 million dollars worldwide, a strong return on that outlay. Audience response has been consistently high: an 8.1 out of 10 on IMDb from around 201,000 votes and an 8.2 out of 10 on TMDB from a much smaller base of about 4,500. A critics' rating of 8.3 out of 10 from 226 reviews places it slightly above both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Filming began on June 15, 2015, in Kuwana (Mie Prefecture, Japan) and ended on October 31. Filming took place in various locations in Japan and South Korea.
- Lady Hideko was named after the Japanese actress Hideko Takamine (1924-2010). Suk-hee is named after Sue, or Susan Trinder, the heroine of Sarah Waters' novel 'Fingersmith'.
- During the erotic scenes, all members of the film crew were asked to leave, so only women with microphones on booms remained on set. Filming was done with remotely controlled cameras. Outsiders were prohibited from visiting the set on those days, and the men working on the film were simply given the day off. The erotic scenes were shot first: the director decided it was the most difficult part and needed to be finished as soon as possible. Kim Tae-ri and Kim Min-hee first discussed all the nuances of these scenes with the director.
- The rights to show the film were sold to 116 countries even before its premiere.
- The director's cut of the film has a runtime of 167 minutes.
- The pornographic depiction of a woman and an octopus in the first part of the film is a woodcut print, 'The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife,' by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) from the Edo period. The pornographic story read by Hideko’s aunt in the second part is an excerpt from the Chinese erotic novel ‘The Plum in the Golden Vase,’ known since 1617.
- While working on the script, director Park Chan-wook and Jeon So-gyeong repeatedly sought advice from a lesbian acquaintance.
- An adaptation of the novel "Fingersmith" by British writer Sarah Waters. The film's setting has been moved from the Victorian era to Korea under Japanese occupation.
- The film's characters speak Korean and Japanese. Before filming began, Japanese teachers were assigned to all the actors. After the film was shown at Cannes, Japanese journalists gave actress Kim Min-hee a standing ovation, applauding her mastery of the Japanese language.
- Before filming began, Park Chan-wook sent the completed screenplay to Sarah Waters. The author of ‘Fingersmith’ liked the screenplay.
- Kim Tae-ri is a big fan of Kim Min-hee's talent. During the auditions and casting, she had no idea that the latter would play Lady Hideko. After approving Kim Tae-ri, the film's director Park Chan-wook asked her which actors and actresses she liked the most and was pleasantly surprised by her answer. Kim Tae-ri and Kim Min-hee met and became friends back in 2014 during preparations for filming. At the Buil Film Awards ceremony, established by the Korean newspaper Busal Ilbo, in 2016, Kim Tae-ri dedicated her award as Best New Actress to Kim Min-hee, saying in her acceptance speech that she “fell in love with her at first sight.”
- Kim Tae-ri was chosen for the role from 1500 candidates. According to Park Chan-wook, when he first saw the actress, he immediately remembered Kang Hye-jung, who starred in his "Oldboy." Kim Tae-ri was approved for the role after a 15-minute audition.
- In Singapore, the erotic scene with Kim Min-hee and Kim Tae-ri was cut from the theatrical version of the film due to censorship concerns.
- Before filming began, Park Chan-wook sent a finished screenplay to Sarah Waters. The author of 'Fingersmith' liked the script. She made only one comment: in her opinion, it would be more correct to state in the credits that the film was made 'based on' the novel, rather than 'inspired by'.
- Kim Tae-ri was chosen for the role from 1500 applicants. According to Park Chan-wook, he immediately remembered Kang Hye-jung, who played the female lead in his "Oldboy" (2003) when he first saw the actress. Kim Tae-ri was approved for the role after a 15-minute audition.
- While working on the English subtitles for the film, American film critic Darcy Paquet, living in Korea, received instructions from director Park Chan-wook not to translate certain lines, but to take them from Sarah Waters’ novel, as they had been translated as closely as possible to the original for Korean and Japanese.
- The film features two main female characters – a lady and her maid. The original title of the film is "The Lady" (Agasshi – a respectful term for an unmarried young woman), while its international title is The Handmaiden.
- Although Cho Jin-woong played the role of the old man Kodzuki in the film, in real life he is only two years older than Ha Jung-woo, who played Fujiwara, and only six years older than Kim Min-hee, who played the role of his niece.
- Lady Hideko was named after the Japanese actress Hideko Takamine. Suk-hee was named after Sue, or Susan Trinder, the heroine of Sarah Waters’ novel ‘Fingersmith’.
- Even before finishing Sarah Waters’ novel ‘Fingersmith,’ Park Chan-wook decided to make a film based on it with a happy ending.
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Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
