AH-GA-SSI (The Handmaiden) (2016) Park Chan-Wook

Reading reviews of this film before I finally saw it, I often came across the term "glossy" ; frankly, I can't understand how it came to be: every frame is a work of art, combining photography, lighting, and costumes, and, finally, the beauty of the images is supported by a compelling, interesting, and unconventional plot. There's an intense sophistication intent on creating an atmosphere of elegance that is inextricably linked to the eroticism that pervades the entire film.

We are in Korea in the 1930s ( the historical reconstruction is also splendid, timely yet, at the same time, places the story outside of time ), a Korea that is under the intellectual spell of Japan, where a wealthy gentleman, obsessed with books, is practically holding his niece, a wealthy heiress, captive, whom he wants to marry to get her money. Obviously, that money is also of interest to many other people, including a group of con artists who devise a complex strategy to gain possession of it. From an initial trap set at the beginning, a series of double-crosses and reversals develop, making the film almost a thriller, as well as a puzzle of false pretenses.

The love story between Sooki and Lady Hideko reigns supreme , two women from opposite walks of life, with completely different histories, which, however, does not stop them from falling in love and discovering their bodies, generators of pleasure.

Sensuality is always measured, never self-referential but always an integral part of a structured and complex story: there is an honest pleasure of the flesh, a sweetness in the touches and in the discovery of pleasure ( some images reminded me of Blue Is the Warmest Colour, albeit with a totally oriental approach: the scene in which Sooki files Hideko's sharp tooth is exciting and disturbing at the same time ).

Books play an absolutely negative role in this film, they are the uncle's instrument, of his power and his wickedness, objects of fetishism and transgression, they are eliminated in a scene of destruction, which is among the most beautiful in the film (10 out of 10 also for the images in which Hideko reads, making the entire male audience, who has come to listen to her, get a hard-on ).

Women come out as absolute winners in this story: men are only secondary and sinister protagonists and to underline this, the director's idea of ending the film with the phrase " At least I die with my dick intact " is splendid.