Handmaiden

Hosted by Jonathan

Date 14 May

Score 70%

Jonathan managed to provide a film which answered both categories - Foreign Language film and "I wish I was there! In 1930's occupied Korea a new girl i(Sookee) is selected to be the new handmaiden for a Japanese heiress (Hideko). However she has a secret - Sookee is to aid the the seduction of the Hideko by a swindler, posing as a Japanese Count, who is aiming to steal the heiresses fortune and lock her up in a madhouse. It does not all go to plan. Sookee and Hideko fall in love which complicates the seduction somewhat. The film has three chapters each of which which shows the story from a different perspective - it felt like the film had three different endings!

There are plenty of erotic non-lesbian (according to Mike!) sex scenes in the film. As well as the erotic love story, there is also an old man who enjoys collecting erotic literature, organises small gatherings of his friends to meet on a regular basis and arranges for his wife to get dressed up and read a sample to them all. We would all have to get dressed up in formal dress before comparisons could be made to the current film club gatherings.

In addition to the film Jonathan had selected two superb Amarone wines. Both were good even though the Masi was twice the price of the other. It was suggested that these were the best wines tasted at the film club - high praise indeed. There was a selection of finger food available including crab canapes. Not enough crisps though - only three bags!

The film was rated well but did drag a bit in places and Bruce was estimated to have only seen one of the three chapters and therefore disqualified from voting.

Film 58%

Evening 83%

Aggregated score of 70%