16 Movies Like The Handmaiden
Based on the novel "False Identity" by Sara Waters, one of the most powerful psychological thrillers of modern cinema arrives in theaters.
If Waters made a work that mixed the gothic with the thriller in the midst of a Victorian environment, in the hands of the brilliant Par Chan-wook has made an almost unclassifiable film adaptation where many genres fit in perfect, but difficult to achieve, harmony.
The Handmaid goes beyond the limits blurred by the British author and transports us to a space of the director; a Korea in colonial times, in the thirties, to present us with a fascinating and disturbing tale of intrigue, love, jealousy, obsession, drama, sensuality, domination and exquisite touches of black humor.
Movies like The Handmaiden also tackle areas like love, sensuality and intrigue, with some taboo topics covered very well in artistic fashion. Some of them are also Korean productions just like The Handmaiden.
Best Movies Similar to The Handmaiden (2016):
In the midst of the Vampire craze that fascinated cinema at the end of the last decade, Korean director Chan-wook Park resumes the vampire genre to rescue and reposition it with a film full of complexes. A unique story, full of forms that do not correspond to what we are usually used to seeing.
Thirst is not about young people in the midst of an impossible love, or about the way in which vampires and humans coexist. Thirst narrates the days of characters whose lives are hanging by a thread due to uncontrollable circumstances. Its protagonist has been the victim of situations he has not been able to anticipate and does not understand at first.
The characters, maniacs or with very particular professions, are beings who prefer solitude because they know that something is wrong with them, but they are always linked to other loved ones, who will be in their minds until they meet their final destiny. A very special movie which fans of movies like The Handmaiden will thoroughly enjoy.
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Eun-yi is a willing and somewhat innocent young woman who accepts an offer to work as a nanny in the house of Goh Hoon, a wealthy businessman.
Her job, besides taking care of their future children when they are born, will also be related to satisfying the whims of his wife Hae-ra and the needs of their little daughter Nami, the only member of the family with whom Eun-yi will find some human warmth.
The job will border on slavery, given the wife's utter foolishness and the husband's maniacal demands. However, for Eun-yi, living in that oppressive mansion - the largest set built in the history of Korean cinema - will become a kind of dream castle, a castle that, as usual, also had its dungeons, full of shadows and darkness.
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The film begins with a powerful shot in which we see our protagonist on a rooftop with another man, as he tells him (us): "I want to tell you my story".
Suddenly, transition to the past of the same character where it all started, and we observe that he looks like a totally different person. Only 30 seconds have passed and we are already hooked into the story.
We know that Oh Dae-su, the protagonist, undergoes a journey that will change him completely, and we feel the compelling need to know how and why it happens. We don’t want to spoil too much, but if you liked The Handmaiden then this movie will delight you.
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What is Volver about? There are several things that come back in Volver. Mainly, the title refers to the past that always comes back even if we try to run away from it. And the past also returns thanks to life experiences that are repeated, with past violence reappearing in the actions of new generations in a similar way to what happened to previous generations.
But the title may also refer to returning to key places in the lives of the protagonists: the small village in La Mancha where the two sisters Cruz and Dueñas grew up before moving to Madrid; the cemetery where their parents rest. And there is also the theme of returning from the afterlife, with much dialogue focusing on how ghosts can affect the lives of loved ones after death.
A special movie touching of very delicate yet fascinating subjects.
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It is the story of Lady Katherine, a young woman who was forced to marry a cold, distant, and alien to her, Alexander. For the year 1856 that was the standard, the problem for Lady Katherine is that her husband never consummates their marriage. This, in addition to other things, makes her life boring, heavy and unbearable.
Everything seems to change when her husband and father-in-law have to leave the house, leaving Katherine alone, taking care of the house and fulfilling her duty as a lady. One day, her employees physically assault the maids, making Katherine have to intervene. There she meets Sebastian, a handsome employee who walks the estate's dogs, and leads them into an idyllic forbidden romance.
Katherine will become obsessed with him and do anything in her power to keep them from being separated, no matter the cost. Definitely a similar movie like The Handmaiden that you shouldn’t overlook.
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