Really not worth watching. Just long, slow and dull. Plot stolen from some classic 40s noirs, but not nearly as well executed. Looks nice, but doesn't entertain. Don't understand what all the critical acclaim is about.

I think this is the best film of 2017. The three-part movie narration is beautiful. The women's story is beautiful.

I was told about this South Korean film, that it was full a risqué material, and then it got some nominations during Awards Season, so I was looking forward to giving it a go, directed by Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Stoker). Basically set in the 1930s, in Korea during the Japanese occupation, beautiful and fragile Japanese heiress Lady Hideko (Min-hee Kim), lives with her sadistic and despotic uncle Kouzuki (Jin-woong Jo). Uncle Kouzuki is an intellectual and an avid collector of rare erotic literature, he has raised Lady Hideko since the tender age of five, he plans to marry her for her riches. As a result, Lady Hideko has been confined in a large dreary and sun-deprived countryside estate, she is like a caged bird. She also seems to be an easy target for forger and outright con artist Count Fujiwara (Jung-woo Ha), who hires dexterous young pickpocket Sook-hee (Tae-ri Kim) to act as the new handmaiden, as part of the secret plot to defraud her. The Count needs Sook-hee to persuade the unaware noblewoman to marry him, and when the elaborate scam is successful, he will ruthlessly and without any remorse whatsoever, he will send her to an asylum. The con was proceeding according to plan, but Lady Hideko's unparalleled beauty with her long raven hair, luscious scarlet lips and velvety skin is no match for them. The scheme is doomed to fail when Lady Hideko and Sook-hee discover unexpected emotions and a romance develops, and in the end Count Fujiwara realises what's going on, he uses cigarettes laced with mercury to poison Kouzuki, the two women celebrate their freedom, making love. Also starring Hae-sook Kim as Miss Sasaki and So-ri Moon as Aunt of Lady Hideko. The leading actresses give good performances as the heiress and the young swindler who become believable lesbian lovers, and the actor playing the monstrous uncle is good, obviously having to read subtitles it was not easy to concentrate, but I got the general gist. The story was originally based on a book set in Victorian Britain, the new setting is put to good use, the costumes and scenery are marvellous to look at, the psychological thriller style and macabre stuff is interesting, and the love story and sexual scenes are beautifully done, all in all it is an intriguing and worthwhile erotic drama. It won the BAFTA for Best Film Not in the English Language. Good!

If you are not in to pornography, you should definitely not watch this movie. Even if you do like porn this movie will still probably flop for you. The entire plot seems designed to set up elaborate and frankly quite disturbing sex scenes. Mercifully, it wasn't interesting enough to keep me awake and I fell asleep about half way through. Perhaps the parts I missed were better, but even if the second half was literally the perfect film, that would not redeem the parts that I was unfortunate enough to watch.