The 2016 Cannes Film Festival is set to begin on May 11th. Among the anticipated showing is Park Chan-wook's "Agassi (The Handmaiden)." Park teams up with his previous production team from "Old Boy" to put together a stylized and stylish telling of a gentleman suitor/con man (Ha Jung-woo) seeking to seduce an married heiress (Kim Min-hee) of her fortune. To do so, the suitor finds a young orphan (Kim Tae-ri) to be the handmaiden to the heiress. Unexpectedly, the two women develop a sincere relationship.
At a recent press conference, Park Chan-wook commented on his new work:
Agasshi isn't ambiguous in any way and is definitely a movie, so I didn't know that it would be invited for the competition category.
[...]
The original novel has vivid characters, and I fell for the surprising twist. Among all the films I've done, it has the most dialogue, and has subtle entertainment. It's the most unusual of my works.