The Handmaiden: Patriarchy, Passion and Octopus

AfterNoona Delight: KDrama Dishing and Deep Dives · Jun 7, 2023 · 1h

Park Chan-Wook’s (Oldboy) “The Handmaiden” is a love story, thriller and subversive Gothic film set in Japanese-occupied Korea (and Japan itself) in the 1930s. It is by turns beautiful, bestial, occasionally brutal. The story centers around a plucky pickpocket ( Kim Tae-ri), who gets a job as a handmaiden at the estate of a rich and eccentric book collector (Lee Yong-nyeo), serving him and Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee), the niece of his late wife. There's also a scheme devised by a poor Korean fisherman who presents as a fake Japanese count and desires to marry the heiress before committing her…