The Handmaiden – 7

Two-thirds a good movie, as I thought we were witnessing, Rashomon-like, two different views of the same events, a chamber piece told with Asian elegance and stunning beauty. Then came chapter three, which took the beauty and trashed it, removing the mystery as well as one character’s fingers. The plot that played out made less sense than the plot I had imagined and left us feeling soiled and unsatisfied. There was, I read, a layer of political commentary involving the Japan-Korea interplay, but that was too alien for our understanding or appreciation.