The Handmaiden

Anyone who’s seen Park Chan-wook’s so-called Vengeance Trilogy — featuring, perhaps most notably, 2003’s Oldboy — knows that the South Korean director is a master of the gruesome. But how is he with an erotic thriller? The answer, according to many early reviews of The Handmaiden, is solid. Based on Sarah Waters’ 2002 novel Fingersmith, The Handmaiden wrests Waters’ plot out of Victorian-era Britain and sets it instead in 1930s Korea and the days of Japanese colonialism. The trailer promises intrigue, remarkable cinematography, sadomasochistic practices, asphyxiation (potentially of the auto-erotic variety) and several gloved hands. Reviewers are calling it “lurid,” “sumptuous” and “lascivious” — and the MPAA is apparently calling it “not rated.” That said, most who have seen it agree that prolonged sex scenes between the film’s two central characters — a female Japanese aristocrat and her handmaiden — sail deep into NC-17 waters. Prepare to get your cage rattled. D. PATRICK RODGERS