I admit to being a little disappointed when I found out that master film-maker Park Chan-wook's latest film would be THE HANDMAIDEN, a remake of a lesbian romantic drama filmed by the BBC as FINGERSMITH. This one relocates a tale of Victorian London to South Korea, where a murky plot involves mucho double-crossing as a con man decides to employ a maid to help him seduce a Japanese heiress due to inherit a fortune.

Like the rest of Park Chan-wook's output, this is an expertly-made piece of drama, with sumptuous costumes and filmography, and fine performances from the cast. A pity, then, that it turns out to be merely a romantic drama with a few dark twists. The emphasis is on explicit sex throughout. Imagine if the director had instead put his talents to making another film like OLDBOY - now that would have been something special. This lengthy, languidly-paced film has some good storytelling methods and nice twists throughout, but otherwise it feels disappointingly shallow.

In Japanese occupied Korea, Sook-hee is brought in as a maid to Count Fujiwara and as a handmaiden to Lady Hideko. Fujiwara is actually Korean. He intends to marry the Japanese heiress Hideko stealing her family fortune and turning himself into Japanese nobility. Sook-hee is an illiterate simpleton, illiterate both in Japanese and Korean. In reality, she comes from a 'family' of thieves hired by Fujiwara in a scheme to send Hideko into an asylum after marrying her.

There is a shocking twist at the end of Part 1 which left me a little confused. One spends the rest of them movie trying to make sense of that turn of event. Honestly, I don't think it answers my questions fully to my satisfaction. I can't accept that it's the best escape plan for anybody. It's a scheme that can't be examined too deeply. It would be more definitive to fake her death. It leaves me feeling a little scammed especially since none of the characters can be believed at face value. They're all lying and I couldn't grab onto the truth. I'd rather they play it straight sending Hideko into the asylum and the Count double-crossing Sook-hee along with everybody else. She could return to rescue Hideko and fall in love. This one does feel a little constructed to shock. Honestly, my only reason to see this is that it's on the top 250 list. It's rare to have a pulpy twisty erotic thriller on the list. This one is beautiful and shot like an art piece. This is a real artistic endeavor from the nude erotica to the complex story construction. It is highly ambitious although I remain unconvinced by the twist.

In Korea, the pickpocket Sook-Hee (Tae-ri Kim) is hired by the Japanese heiress Lady Hideko (Min-hee Kim) to be her personal servant. Hideko is supported by her Uncle Kouzuki (Jin-woong Jo) and the gold-digger "Count Fujiwara" (Jung-woo Ha),who is indeed son of peasants, wants to marry her to steal her inheritance. Sook-Hee is a small-time thief of the ring of the conman "Count Fujiwara" and is sent to help him in the confidence game. But soon Hideko and Sook- Hee get close to each other and become lovers. But Sook-Hee is pressed by Fujiwara to betray her friend. When Fujiwara marries Hideko, they go with Sook-Hee to an asylum and the nurses hold Sook- Hee believing that she is Hideko. Why Hideko poses of servant and leaves Sook-Hee in the asylum to stay with Count Fujiwara?

"Ah-ga-ssi", a.k.a. "The Handmaiden", is a classy South Korean erotic thriller divided in three parts and directed by Chan-wook Park. The first part is slow paced and shows the development of the relationship among Sook-Hee, Lady Hideko and "Count Fujiwara". The second part shows the abusive relationship of Uncle Kouzuki and Hideko since her childhood. The third part has many twists and shows the fate of each leader character. The cinematography is very beautiful and the eroticism is elegant and stylish. The screenplay has surprising plot points. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazl): "A Criada" ("The Maid")