Reel Pride: The Handmaiden (2016)
Onscreen nudity and sexual content is a topic fraught with political and social implications, especially as we try to unpack the heterosexual male gaze seen as the default in mainstream cinema. I think about sex and nudity a lot in films, especially regarding the power dynamics during production and cultural norms and expectations. Within the context of queer cinema, nudity and sex are especially fascinating as queer cinema directly challenges the patriarchy. Whether the sex is graphic or implied, titillating or practical, empowering or exploitative, can say a lot about the film. This brings me to The Handmaiden, Park Chan-wook’s excellent 2016 gothic romantic thriller. Directed by a straight man, the film centers on a lesbian romance and there’s been some discussion on how it manages that tricky balance.
Adapted from the novel Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, The Handmaiden places the events of the novel in 1930s South Korea, when it was under Japanese rule. Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri) is a pickpocket who is hired by a con man “Count Fujiwara” (Ha Jung-woo) to work for the rich Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee) as a handmaiden. The plan is that Sook-hee will encourage the feeble-minded Hideko to marry the Count so that he can lock her up in an asylum and take her inheritance. Hideko lives with her controlling uncle Kouzuki (Cho Jin-woong) and becomes attached to Sook-hee. Though Sook-hee expresses doubts about her plan, she still insists on Hideko marrying Count Fujiwara. Kouzuki goes away for a business trip, and Hideko elopes with the Count…though perhaps Hideko isn’t all she seems.
As Sook-hee encourages Hideko to marry the Count, the two women make love, with Sook-hee promising that the Count will pleasure Hideko in the same way. This is the culmination of Sook-hee becoming quite intimate with Hideko through her duties as handmaiden, and even dressing up in Hideko’s clothes and jewelry. The intimacy between the two women intensifies and the erotic encounter is passionate and exhilarating. The sex scenes in the movie sparked a debate at the time; some critics felt that Park filmed lesbian sex through a male gaze, like the kind found in lesbian pornography that’s made for straight men. On the other side of the debate were people saying that the clichés in the eroticism was kind of the point. Hideko and Sook-hee are finding joy in something forbidden, and even within the scene they are acting out what pleasure should look like. There isn’t an easy answer to this “exploitative or not” question—it’s up to the audience to decide.
There is a creepiness with heterosexual male directors making lesbian sex scenes (the most extreme example being Blue is the Warmest Color, a film I am confident in saying will never be explored on this column). The power dynamic, as I mentioned, is too skewed with a man in authority directing women in a vulnerable position, with the probability of gratuitous nudity. And the thing is, a mainstream movie featuring gay male characters just wouldn’t feature graphic sex scenes. Look at Call Me By Your Name and Brokeback Mountain—both incredible pieces of queer cinema that shy away from sex in a way that The Handmaiden absolutely does not. I’m not saying that every queer movie needs more sexual content than necessary for the story. Just that I think audiences are subconsciously uncomfortable with male nudity and it’s just not the norm to see it through an erotic lens.
The Handmaiden, in my opinion, does justify its sexual content through the deliberate development of intimacy, the mind games played between the characters, and the intricate narrative structure. The film cuts back to the central sex scene several times, each time revealing something new about the relationships between the characters. Also, the exuberance between Hideko and Sook-hee is contrasted by the violence and sexual repression of Count Fujiwara and Kouzuki, who do not get a release for their intense but twisted sexual desire. Both Sook-hee and Hideko play parts within the film, they are both the voyeur and the subject. Through their elaborate cons, the women get to take ownership of their oppression and find their pleasure.
The twists and turns of the film build up a byzantine narrative that is getting reframed constantly. The Handmaiden has a tricky plot, and when I first saw it, I knew nothing about it except that it was getting critical acclaim. Told in three parts, with the first two ending on an amazing twist. The clever screenplay switches narrators, allowing each part to be driven by different characters. The costumes by Jo Sang-gyeong are truly sumptuous, and the production design by Ryu Seong-hie is outstanding. Along with the magnificent cast, I must give credit to Chung Chung-hoon (Park’s longtime cameraman), editors Kim Jae-bum and Kim Sang-beum, and composer Jo Yeong-wook who bring this labyrinthine film to life. The Handmaiden is really an incredible film—sensual, absorbing, and gorgeous to its last detail.
The Handmaiden is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
