The Handmaiden (2016)
아가씨
You're the one being tricked.
Keywords
The Handmaiden rating: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic
IMDb8.1/10· 199K votes
Rotten Tomatoes96%
Metacritic85%
TMDb8.2/10· 4K votesWith 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, backed by 8.1/10 on IMDb and 85/100 on Metacritic, critical reception of this film has been very positive.
About The Handmaiden
1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sook-hee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.
Cast of The Handmaiden
Kim Min-hee
as Lady Hideko
Kim Tae-ri
as Sook-hee
Ha Jung-woo
as Count Fujiwara
Cho Jin-woong
as Uncle Kouzuki
Kim Hae-sook
as Ms. Sasaki
Moon So-ri
as Hideko's Aunt
Lee Yong-nyeo
as Bok-soon
Kwak Eun-jin
as Kkeut-dan
Lee Dong-hwi
as Goo-gai
Jo Eun-hyung
as Young Hideko
Rina Takagi
as Hideko's Mother
Han Ha-na
as Junko
The Handmaiden facts
- Original title
- 아가씨
- Budget
- $8.6M
- Box office
- $38.6M
Our take on The Handmaiden
Park Chan-wook's 2016 erotic thriller unfolds in Japanese-occupied Korea, where a con artist plants a handmaiden to swindle an heiress — before the women's bond rewrites everyone's scheme. Sumptuous, twisty and seductive, it's a deliciously layered tale of deception and desire. If its elegance and shocks gripped you, seek out lavish thrillers and period dramas built on double-crosses and forbidden passion.
Ranked by the iRankMovies editorial teamUpdated August 2026MethodologyData sources
Audience opinions
What the audience liked
- •Park Chan-wook orchestrates elaborate con artistry with perfectly-timed surprises
- •Erotic thriller explores forbidden attraction and betrayal with artistic restraint and power
- •1930s setting provides exotic backdrop for complex games of seduction and deception
What the audience disliked
- •Narrative structure demands careful attention to separate con stages and character motivations
- •Eroticism occasionally overwhelms character development and psychological depth in sequences
Trailer
Where to watch The Handmaiden(US)
View on JustWatch →Subscription
Amazon Prime VideoRent / Buy
Fandango At HomeAvailability may change. Data by JustWatch.
Looking for movies similar to The Handmaiden?
We've ranked 50 similar movies using 8 weighted content dimensions.