50 Movies Like The Handmaiden (2016) You Need to Watch Next
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 domine
Updated June 2026
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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.
If you loved The Handmaiden (2016) by Park Chan-wook, here are 50 movies that share its content DNA. iRankMovies measures real similarity using cosine similarity across eight weighted dimensions — genre (50%), tone (12%), pace (10%), structure (8%), era (7%), theme (6%), audience (4%) and narrative perspective (3%) — not just the rating. The closest matches according to our analysis are Unfaithful, Bitter Moon, The Phantom of the Opera. Every title is ranked by how closely it matches and backed by the iRank Score, a composite of IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDb across 12,000+ analysed titles.
50 Movies Similar to The Handmaiden
Unfaithful
2002 · Adrian Lyne
A New York suburban couple's marriage goes dangerously awry when the wife indulges in an adulterous fling.
In common: Drama · Romance · Thriller
Bitter Moon
1992 · Roman Polanski
A passenger on a cruise ship develops an irresistible infatuation with an eccentric paraplegic's wife.
In common: Drama · Romance · Thriller
The Phantom of the Opera
2004 · Joel Schumacher
A young soprano becomes the obsession of a disfigured and murderous musical genius who lives beneath the Paris Opera House.
In common: Drama · Romance · Thriller
Miller's Girl
2024 · Jade Halley Bartlett
A talented young writer embarks on a creative odyssey when her teacher assigns a project that entangles them both.
In common: Drama · Romance · Thriller
My Fault
2023 · Domingo González
Noah must leave her city, boyfriend, and friends to move into William Leister's mansion, the flashy and wealthy husband of her mother Rafaela. As a proud and independent 17 year old, Noah resists livi
In common: Drama · Romance · Thriller
Fifty Shades of Grey
2015 · Sam Taylor-Johnson
When college senior Anastasia Steele steps in for her sick roommate to interview prominent businessman Christian Grey for their campus paper, little does she realize the path her life will take. Chris
In common: Drama · Romance · Thriller
Match Point
2005 · Woody Allen
Chris, a former tennis pro, takes a job as an instructor and befriends his wealthy young student, Tom. After being introduced to his family, Chris is soon engaged to Tom's sister, Chloe. Despite the p
In common: Drama · Romance · Thriller
The Beach
2000 · Danny Boyle
Twenty-something Richard travels to Thailand and finds himself in possession of a strange map. Rumours state that it leads to a solitary beach paradise, a tropical bliss - excited and intrigued, he se
In common: Drama · Romance
The Next Three Days
2010 · Paul Haggis
Life seems perfect for John Brennan until his wife, Lara, is arrested for a murder she says she didn’t commit. Three years into her sentence, John is struggling to hold his family together, raising th
In common: Drama · Romance
The Illusionist
2006 · Neil Burger
With his eye on a lovely aristocrat, a gifted illusionist named Eisenheim uses his powers to win her away from her betrothed, a crown prince. But Eisenheim's scheme creates tumult within the monarchy
In common: Drama · Romance
Fair Play
2023 · Chloe Domont
An unexpected promotion at a cutthroat hedge fund pushes a young couple's relationship to the brink, threatening to unravel not only their recent engagement but their lives.
In common: Drama · Romance · Thriller
Babygirl
2024 · Halina Reijn
A high-powered CEO puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much younger intern.
In common: Romance · Thriller
Safe Haven
2013 · Lasse Hallström
A young woman with a mysterious past lands in Southport, North Carolina where her bond with a widower forces her to confront the dark secret that haunts her.
In common: Romance · Thriller
My Fault: London
2025 · Dani Girdwood
18-year-old Noah moves from America to London, with her mother who's recently fallen in love with William, a wealthy British businessman. Noah meets William’s son, bad-boy Nick, and soon discovers the
In common: Drama · Romance
In the Realm of the Senses
1976 · Nagisa Ōshima
A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.
In common: Drama · Romance
Dangerous Liaisons
1988 · Stephen Frears
In 18th century France, Marquise de Merteuil asks her ex-lover Vicomte de Valmont to seduce the future wife of another ex-lover of hers in return for one last night with her. Yet things don’t go as pl
In common: Drama · Romance
Fifty Shades Darker
2017 · James Foley
When a wounded Christian Grey tries to entice a cautious Ana Steele back into his life, she demands a new arrangement before she will give him another chance. As the two begin to build trust and find
In common: Drama · Romance
The Lover
1992 · Jean-Jacques Annaud
A poor French teenage girl engages in an illicit affair with a wealthy Chinese heir in 1920s Saigon. For the first time in her young life she has control, and she wields it deftly over her besotted lo
In common: Drama · Romance
A Beautiful Mind
2001 · Ron Howard
From the heights of notoriety to the depths of depravity, John Forbes Nash Jr. experiences it all. As a brilliant but socially awkward mathematician, he made a groundbreaking discovery early in his ca
In common: Drama · Romance
Desire
2011 · Laurent Bouhnik
In a social context deteriorated by a countrywide economic crisis, the life of several people will be turned upside down after they meet Cécile, a character who symbolizes desire.
In common: Drama · Romance
Sirāt
2025 · Oliver Laxe
A man and his son arrive at a rave lost in the mountains of Morocco. They are looking for Marina, their daughter and sister, who disappeared months ago at another rave. Driven by fate, they decide to
In common: Drama · Thriller
Before Sunrise
1995 · Richard Linklater
An unexpected meeting on a train leads two travelers to spend an evening wandering through Vienna. As the night unfolds, they share stories and conversations about life and love, exploring new ideas w
In common: Drama · Romance
The Piano Teacher
2001 · Michael Haneke
Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother, meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her.
In common: Drama · Romance
Materialists
2025 · Celine Song
A young, ambitious New York City matchmaker finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.
In common: Drama · Romance
Disobedience
2018 · Sebastián Lelio
New York photographer Ronit flies to London after learning about the death of her estranged father. Ronit is returning to the same Orthodox Jewish community that shunned her decades earlier for her ch
In common: Drama · Romance
Crash
1996 · David Cronenberg
A car crash victim suddenly finds himself turned on by car accidents and becomes involved with an underground sub-culture of like-minded souls.
In common: Drama · Thriller
Nine 1/2 Weeks
1986 · Adrian Lyne
An erotic story about a woman, the assistant of an art gallery, who gets involved in an impersonal affair with a man. She barely knows about his life, only about the sex games they play, so the relati
In common: Drama · Romance
Lady Chatterley's Lover
2022 · Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre
After a crippling injury leaves her husband impotent, Lady Chatterly is torn between her love for her husband and her physical desires. With her husband's consent, she seeks out other means of fulfill
In common: Drama · Romance
Emmanuelle
1974 · Just Jaeckin
An employee at the French Embassy in Bangkok invites his wife to join him – and enjoy the benefits of their open marriage.
In common: Drama · Romance
The Great Gatsby
2013 · Baz Luhrmann
An adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Long Island-set novel, where Midwesterner Nick Carraway is lured into the lavish world of his neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Soon enough, however, Carraway will see throu
In common: Drama · Romance
Newness
2017 · Drake Doremus
In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.
In common: Drama · Romance
Romeo + Juliet
1996 · Baz Luhrmann
In this contemporary take on William Shakespeare's classic tragedy, the Montagues and Capulets have moved their ongoing feud to the sweltering suburb of Verona Beach, where Romeo and Juliet fall in lo
In common: Drama · Romance
Purple Hearts
2022 · Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum
An aspiring musician agrees to a marriage of convenience with a soon-to-deploy Marine, but a tragedy soon turns their fake relationship all too real.
In common: Drama · Romance
Five Feet Apart
2019 · Justin Baldoni
Seventeen-year-old Stella spends most of her time in the hospital as a cystic fibrosis patient. Her life is full of routines, boundaries and self-control — all of which get put to the test when she me
In common: Drama · Romance
Indecent Proposal
1993 · Adrian Lyne
John Gage offers a down-on-his-luck yuppie husband $1 million for the opportunity to spend the night with the man's wife.
In common: Drama · Romance
Emilia Pérez
2024 · Jacques Audiard
Rita, an underrated lawyer working for a large law firm more interested in getting criminals out of jail than bringing them to justice, is hired by the leader of a criminal organization.
In common: Drama · Thriller
Sex and Lucía
2001 · Julio Medem
Various lives converge on an isolated island, all connected by an author whose novel has become inextricably entwined with his own life.
In common: Drama · Romance
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
2022 · Sophie Hyde
Nancy Stokes, a retired schoolteacher, is pretty sure she has never had good sex. Now that her husband has died, she is determined to take a tour of sexual vistas that until now she has only imagined.
In common: Drama · Romance
The Reader
2008 · Stephen Daldry
The story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who, as a teenager in the late 1950s, had an affair with an older woman, Hanna, who then disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants i
In common: Drama · Romance
The Tearsmith
2024 · Alessandro Genovesi
Adopted together after a tough childhood in an orphanage, Nica and Rigel realize that unexpected but irresistible feelings pull them together.
In common: Drama · Romance
The Fault in Our Stars
2014 · Josh Boone
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a patient named Augustus W
In common: Drama · Romance
Forever My Girl
2018 · Bethany Ashton Wolf
After being gone for a decade, a country star returns home to the love he left behind.
In common: Drama · Romance
The Machinist
2004 · Brad Anderson
Trevor, an insomniac lathe operator, experiences unusual occurrences at work and home. A strange man follows him everywhere, but no one else seems to notice him.
In common: Drama · Thriller
Slumdog Millionaire
2008 · Danny Boyle
A teenager reflects on his life after being accused of cheating on the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?".
In common: Drama · Romance
Before Sunset
2004 · Richard Linklater
Nine years later, Jesse travels across Europe giving readings from a book he wrote about the night he spent in Vienna with Celine. After his reading in Paris, Celine finds him, and they spend part of
In common: Drama · Romance
Leaving Las Vegas
1995 · Mike Figgis
Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-i
In common: Drama · Romance
Nowhere
2023 · Albert Pintó
A young pregnant woman named Mia escapes from a country at war by hiding in a maritime container aboard a cargo ship. After a violent storm, Mia gives birth to the child while lost at sea, where she m
In common: Drama · Thriller
Room
2015 · Lenny Abrahamson
Held captive for 7 years in an enclosed space, a woman and her young son finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.
In common: Drama · Thriller
Margin Call
2011 · J.C. Chandor
Set in the high-stakes world of the financial industry, involving the key players at an investment firm during one perilous 24-hour period in the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis. An entry-le
In common: Drama · Thriller
Sliver
1993 · Phillip Noyce
A woman moves into a Manhattan apartment, where she learns that the previous tenant's life ended under mysterious circumstances.
In common: Drama · Thriller