The Handmaiden is a 2016 South Korean erotic historical psychological thriller film directed, co-written and co-produced by Park Chan-Wook and starring Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo and Cho Jin-woong. It is loosely based on the 2002 novel Fingersmith by Welsh author Sarah Waters, with the setting changed from Victorian era Britain to Korea under Japanese rule, where a Korean girl is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress who lives a secluded life on a countryside estate.