1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sookee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.
Direction
Park Chan-wook structures three acts that completely recontextualize each other.
Cinematography
Every frame could hang in a gallery—if galleries allowed this much desire.
Production
The estate itself: a character of sliding doors, hidden passages, and toxic masculinity.
Director
Park Chan-wook
Kim Min-hee
Lady Hideko
Kim Tae-ri
Sook-hee
Ha Jung-woo
Count Fujiwara
Cho Jin-woong
Uncle Kouzuki
Kim Hae-sook
Ms. Sasaki
Moon So-ri
Hideko's Aunt
Lee Yong-nyeo
Bok-soon
Kwak Eun-jin
Kkeut-dan
Lee Dong-hwi
Goo-gai
Jo Eun-hyung
Young Hideko
Rina Takagi
Hideko's Mother
Han Ha-na
Junko
Lee Kyu-jung
Maid 1
Kim See-eun
Maid 2
Ha Si-yeon
Maid 3
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The octopus scene required four live octopuses and significant negotiation with animal welfare; the actors later confirmed they became unexpectedly attached to their co-stars.
Park relocated Sarah Waters's 'Fingersmith' from Victorian England to 1930s Korea specifically to explore Japanese colonialism's erasure of Korean identity—making the con artists literal nation thieves too.
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