In Korea during the Japanese colonial period, heiress Hideko loses her parents when she is young and lives with her uncle, a con man, as her guardian. He and maid Sukhee start living with her in her mansion hoping to snatch her inheritance. Sukhee is attracted by Hideko’s good looks and Hideko opens herself up to her. Among the deception, they make their best decision. Based on the British novel, Fingersmith, The Handmaiden has the plot of a heist film. Sukhee is the main focus of the first act, while the second act has Hideko in the central spot, so this film can be viewed differently, depending on who is followed. Ocean’s Eleven and The Big Swindle exploit the charm of twists in this kind of structure. The Handmaiden not only offers the pleasure of a perfect crime and revenge story, but it overturns the sexual fantasies of both men and women: men getting turned on by listening to passages from erotic novels read by women, and men becoming the targets of derision for considering a woman an easily-conquered object.