The Handmaiden

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The Handmaiden (Park Chan-wook, 2016) encompasses a thrilling, vibrant journey, filled with plot twists and drama. The extensive tendency of the film is echoed by the many different themes and sources of inspiration that the film features. When analyzing the films core themes, we can analyze that The Handmaiden’s narrative structure reveals and reflects on the primary themes of boundaries, feminine strength, time, control and cross culture.
A recurring theme that is stressed upon through the frequent visual emphasis, was the theme of borders and boundaries. This is especially brought out and heightened through the unification of boundaries with them being broken. Whether it is a metaphorical boundary of rules or a literate boundary of borders …show more content…
When the first sex scene is presented, it is very intimate with the use of close-ups so the audience doesn’t get a very graphic visual image of the actions. However, during the second perspective, as we see a new powerful and worldly perception of the women, the same sex scene is repeated, however this time at a more lengthy period with a medium long shot of the two women giving a more graphic visualization of the whole interaction. The distance of the camera shot during these two perspectives could link to how the female characters are no longer dominated by the male narratives, and they are claiming their sexuality as their own. The first perspective of the scene, the camera was almost part of the interaction between the women, however on the second perspective, the camera is used to situation the intimate interaction between the two characters followed by distancing the itself from the women, referencing the men no longer dominate or a part of the women’s sexuality. Overall, the film has a heavy significance in the female empowerment as men are presented as unfavorable and reflection of sex predators, meanwhile the female characters are presented as an embodiment of elegance and …show more content…
Chan-wook uses various means of camerawork and framing in each scene to visualize which character has control. He uses still camera movement with a close-up frame on the character to depict more intimate scenes. On the other hand, Chan-wook uses dramatic camera movements to effectively express the dynamics of the interactions between the characters. This is seen during the scene Hideko and Sook-Hee wait for Count’s painting lesson. During this establishing shot, the camera framework is still from a long take, as we are able to just merely observe the rooms and the characters. However, as soon as Count enters the room, the dynamics change and dramatic camera moments interplay to illustrate the visual interactions and expressions occurring between the characters. The camera constantly refers back to Sook-Hee, indicating that she is in control of the situation. Moreover, when Sook-Hee first arrives at the mansion, the camera sweeps the environment in the same manner as Sook-Hee, giving a point-of-view shot. Through this technique, connecting with Sook-Hee becomes more accessible, making it clear that she is in control of the current scene. Additionally, as this film uses a three-person narrative to unfold the story, it gives the audience a sense of limitation of time. The cinematic technique of freezing the frame during a scene, indicating the
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