The Handmaiden

With The Handmaiden, Korean master of mischief Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) bends the Sarah Waters novel Fingersmith to his wicked will. Transporting the action from Victorian Britain to Korea under Japanese rule, he retains much of the plot but dresses it up in a way that's characteristically macabre. A young thief (Kim Tae-ri) is persuaded to pose as the handmaiden of an heiress (Kim Min-hee) and smooth the path for her con-artist associate (Ha Jung-woo). He plans to spirit away the wealthy woman from her monstrous uncle (Jo Jin-woong) and more pertinently, her fortune. In a beautiful marriage of form and narrative this tricksy, multi-layered erotic crime caper unfolds in a spectacularly sinister country pile that combines English and Japanese architecture and gradually surrenders the story's secrets. As the women discard the shackles of oppression, off too come their clothes and while the romance that develops between them is undermined by the lascivious approach, the whole enterprise is presented with such breathtaking panache, intricacy and humour that it's impossible to resist.