The Handmaiden

아가씨 (2016)

Timing: 2:25 (145 min)

8.189/10
4257

7.706/10
197967

8.1/10
201000

All about film

Video 19

Photo 173

Actors and characters

Release date

2016-06-01

Country

Korea

Production

CJ Entertainment, Moho Film, Yong Film

Genre

Thriller, Drama, Romance

Budget

$8 575 000

Revenue

$38 600 000

Website

Director

Park Chan-wook

Actors

Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo, Cho Jin-woong, Kim Hae-sook, Moon So-ri, Lee Yong-nyeo, Kwak Eun-jin, Lee Dong-hwi, Jo Eun-hyung
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Park Chan-wook, Chung Seo-kyung

Producer

Syd Lim, Park Chan-wook, Miky Lee

Operator

Jeong Jeong-hun

Composer

Cho Young-wuk

Artist

Audition

Editing

Kim Sang-bum, Kim Jae-beom, Kim Kyeong-taek
All team (68)

• An adaptation of the novel "Fingersmith" by British writer Sarah Waters. The film's setting has been moved from the Victorian era to Korea under Japanese occupation.
• The director's cut of the film has a runtime of 167 minutes.
• The film features two main characters – a lady and her maid. The original title of the film is "The Lady" (Agasshi – a respectful term for an unmarried woman), while its international title is The Handmaiden.
• Kim Tae-ri was chosen for the role from 1500 applicants. According to Park Chan-wook, he immediately remembered Kang Hye-jung, who played the female lead in his "Oldboy" (2003) when he first saw the actress. Kim Tae-ri was approved for the role after a 15-minute audition.
• The film's characters speak Korean and Japanese. Before filming began, Japanese teachers were assigned to all the actors. After the film was shown at Cannes, Japanese journalists gave actress Kim Min-hee a standing ovation, applauding her mastery of the Japanese language.
• Kim Tae-ri is a big fan of Kim Min-hee's talent. During auditions and casting, she had no idea that Kim Min-hee would be playing Lady Hideko. After approving Kim Tae-ri, the film's director Park Chan-wook asked her who her favorite actors and actresses were and was pleasantly surprised by her answer. Kim Tae-ri and Kim Min-hee met and became friends back in 2014 during the preparation for filming. At the Buil Film Awards ceremony in 2016, established by the Korean newspaper Busal Ilbo, Kim Tae-ri dedicated her award for Best New Actress to Kim Min-hee, saying in her acceptance speech that she "fell in love with her at first sight".
• Lady Hideko was named after the Japanese actress Hideko Takamine (1924-2010). Suk-hee is named after Sue, or Susan Trinder, the heroine of Sarah Waters' novel 'Fingersmith'.
• The rights to show the film were sold to 116 countries even before its premiere.
• Before filming began, Park Chan-wook sent a finished screenplay to Sarah Waters. The author of 'Fingersmith' liked the script. She made only one comment: in her opinion, it would be more correct to state in the credits that the film was made 'based on' the novel, rather than 'inspired by'.
• Filming began on June 15, 2015, in Kuwana (Mie Prefecture, Japan) and ended on October 31. Filming took place in various locations in Japan and South Korea.
• Although Cho Jin-woong played the role of the old man Kodzuki in the film, in real life he is only two years older than Ha Jung-woo, who played Fujiwara, and only six years older than Kim Min-hee, who played the role of his niece.
• While working on the English subtitles for the film, American film critic Darcy Paquet, living in Korea, received instructions from director Park Chan-wook not to translate certain lines, but to take them from Sarah Waters' novel, as they had been translated into Korean and Japanese as closely as possible to the original.
• The pornographic depiction of a woman and an octopus in the first part of the film is a woodcut print, "The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife," by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) from the Edo period. The pornographic story read by Hideko's aunt in the second part is an excerpt from the erotic novel in vernacular Chinese, "Plum Blossoms in a Golden Vase," known since 1617.
• While working on the script, director Park Chan-wook and Jeon So-gyeong repeatedly sought advice from a lesbian acquaintance.
• Even before finishing Sarah Waters' novel "Tipping the Velvet", Park Chan-wook decided to make a film based on it with a happy ending.
• During the erotic scenes, all members of the film crew were asked to leave, so only women with microphones on booms remained on set. Filming was done with remotely controlled cameras. Outsiders were prohibited from visiting the set on those days, and the men working on the film were simply given the day off. The erotic scenes were shot first: the director decided it was the most difficult part and needed to be finished as soon as possible. Kim Tae-ri and Kim Min-hee first discussed all the nuances of these scenes with the director.
• In Singapore, the erotic scene with Kim Min-hee and Kim Tae-ri was cut from the theatrical version of the film due to censorship concerns.
• Lady Hideko was named after the Japanese actress Hideko Takamine. Suk-hee is named after Sue, or Susan Trinder, a character from Sarah Waters' novel "Tipping the Velvet".
• Before filming began, Park Chan-wook sent the completed screenplay to Sarah Waters. The author of "Tipping the Velvet" liked the screenplay.
• Filming began on June 15, 2015, in Kuwana (Mie Prefecture, Japan) and ended on October 31. Filming took place in various locations in Japan and South Korea.
• While working on the English subtitles for the film, American film critic Darcy Paquet, living in Korea, received instructions from director Park Chan-wook not to translate certain lines, but to take them from Sarah Waters’ novel, as they had been translated as closely as possible to the original for Korean and Japanese.
• The pornographic depiction of a woman and an octopus in the first part of the film is a woodcut print, "The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife," by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) from the Edo period. The pornographic story read by Hideko’s aunt in the second part is an excerpt from the Chinese erotic novel "Plum Blossoms in a Golden Vase,” known since 1617.
• The film features two main female characters – a lady and her maid. The original title of the film is "The Lady" (Agasshi – a respectful term for an unmarried young woman), while its international title is The Handmaiden.
• Kim Tae-ri was chosen for the role from 1500 candidates. According to Park Chan-wook, when he first saw the actress, he immediately remembered Kang Hye-jung, who starred in his "Oldboy." Kim Tae-ri was approved for the role after a 15-minute audition.
• Kim Tae-ri is a big fan of Kim Min-hee's talent. During the auditions and casting, she had no idea that the latter would play Lady Hideko. After approving Kim Tae-ri, the film's director Park Chan-wook asked her which actors and actresses she liked the most and was pleasantly surprised by her answer. Kim Tae-ri and Kim Min-hee met and became friends back in 2014 during preparations for filming. At the Buil Film Awards ceremony, established by the Korean newspaper Busal Ilbo, in 2016, Kim Tae-ri dedicated her award as Best New Actress to Kim Min-hee, saying in her acceptance speech that she “fell in love with her at first sight.”
• Lady Hideko was named after the Japanese actress Hideko Takamine. Suk-hee was named after Sue, or Susan Trinder, the heroine of Sarah Waters’ novel ‘Fingersmith’.
• Before filming began, Park Chan-wook sent the completed screenplay to Sarah Waters. The author of ‘Fingersmith’ liked the screenplay.
• The pornographic depiction of a woman and an octopus in the first part of the film is a woodcut print, 'The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife,' by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) from the Edo period. The pornographic story read by Hideko’s aunt in the second part is an excerpt from the Chinese erotic novel ‘The Plum in the Golden Vase,’ known since 1617.
• Even before finishing Sarah Waters’ novel ‘Fingersmith,’ Park Chan-wook decided to make a film based on it with a happy ending.