THE HANDMAIDEN
Park Chan-wook | 2016 | South Korea | 2h25m | Presented in the original Korean and Japanese audio with English subtitles
THE HANDMAIDEN starts with a scheme to steal a woman’s fortune and becomes a ruthless lesson in who has really been watching whom.
Park Chan-wook adapts Sarah Waters’ novel FINGERSMITH and relocates it from Victorian Britain to Japanese-occupied Korea in the 1930s. Sook-hee, a young pickpocket, is hired by a con man posing as a count to become maid to Lady Hideko, a wealthy heiress living under the control of her uncle. The plan is simple enough: gain Hideko’s trust, help the count marry her, then have her committed and take the money.
Of course, nothing in a Park Chan-wook film stays simple for long.
The story unfolds through shifting perspectives, each one rearranging what we think we’ve seen. Desire becomes strategy. Politeness becomes threat. Rooms, costumes, books, and rituals all become part of a larger game of control. Park’s direction is elegant without being cold, turning the mansion into a beautiful trap where language, class, gender, and colonial power press against each other.
Kim Min-hee and Kim Tae-ri are extraordinary together, giving the film its emotional centre beneath all the manipulation. THE HANDMAIDEN works as a thriller, a romance, a revenge story, and a study of who gets to tell the story in the first place.
Please note: this film contains explicit sexual content and adult themes. Viewer discretion is advised. All ticket holders must be aged 21 years or older.
FOOD AND DRINK POLICY: FOMO Cinema Lounge Bar opens 1 hour before the first screening of the day and closes at 02:00,.serving a wide selection of beer, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic refreshments including coffee and tea, as well as fresh hot popcorn! Outside food is allowed in the bar but not in the cinema. No alcohol from outside allowed. All guests are invited to arrive early and stay late!
LOCATION: FOMO Secret Cinema, Bazari Orbeliani, Tbilisi. A five minute walk from Liberty Square metro.
HOW TO FIND FOMO: Enter Bazari Orbeliani via Atoneli St above Carrefour and take the stairs on your left to Level 1. Signage on the door. You can also check our Instagram story highlights for a video showing exactly how to find us: https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3OTMzMTA2Mjk0MDI5MjM1
FOMO Secret Cinema • Bazari Orbeliani, 0105 Tbilisi, Georgia
