[Watched/Written 1/5/2021 for Letterboxd. Expanded 1/23/2021]

There was a moment, at the end of Act I of "The Handmaiden" where I was seriously considering turning this film off. The expectation of a lesbian love story (within repressed boundaries) seemed entirely out of the question as the film followed the newly christened Tamako (Sookee, a name that unfortunately invokes True Blood's Sookie) as she and her partner-in-crime (Lord Fujiwara) prepared to swindle a absent-minded heiress out of her money.

I was like, "Oh, a heist film?" Poor folks robbing the rich and leaving 'em high and dry is my jam, and I was entirely convinced that Sookee was going to ride off into the sunset with Lady Hideko's money. So, imagine my surprise when I watched (gobsmacked) as Lord Fujiwara betrayed her.

The injustice of it all, I thought. I rated it, turned the television off and went to bed I was so salty.

Revisiting it in the morning, those thoughts quickly vanished as I watched film roll back the intentions under everything that happened in the first act, and do it so deftly, that I was left with only a sense of catharsis as Hideko and Sookee twisted their way out of the abusive dynamics they fell victim to, and secure a happy life for themselves.

I tend to avoid films like "The Handmaiden". The very name invokes so many ideas established around "erotic adultery" films (particularly their tendency to wander into the realm of rape-as-romance).

I was prepared to write it off as another exploitative smut-fest hiding behind a same sex relationship (ah-la "Blue is the Warmest Color"), a film without positive returns (i.e., a worthwhile story, with performances and directing to back it up, like "3-Iron"). But, like, yeah, I get why y'all like this film so much.

I hope Sookee and Hideko lived long and happy lives.