

1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sookee, 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.
Direction
Park Chan-wook structures three acts that completely recontextualize each other.
Cinematography
Every frame could hang in a gallery—if galleries allowed this much desire.
Production
The estate itself: a character of sliding doors, hidden passages, and toxic masculinity.

Director
Park Chan-wook
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The octopus scene required four live octopuses and significant negotiation with animal welfare; the actors later confirmed they became unexpectedly attached to their co-stars.
Park relocated Sarah Waters's 'Fingersmith' from Victorian England to 1930s Korea specifically to explore Japanese colonialism's erasure of Korean identity—making the con artists literal nation thieves too.