Korean director Park Chan-wook was once the master of gonzo revenge violence but with the adaptation of the Sarah Waters novel The Handmaiden in 2016 he pivoted with flair to the elegantly designed suspense thriller. And it is in this spirit that he’s back in Cannes with this sensational black-widow noir romance, featuring a glorious leading turn from the Chinese star Tang Wei, who has bettered her iconic performance in Ang Lee’s 2007 spy drama Lust, Caution. She is effortlessly charismatic and (that overworked word) mesmeric; sexual but reserved, strong, capable, intimidatingly smart but bearing a poignant and unacknowledged emotional wound. And the intelligence and live-wire energy she brings to her relationship with the film’s leading man, Park Hae-il, is a marvel.
The tension and the intrigue, the grandstanding emotional confrontations, the ingenious use of mobile phone technology (which so often stymies modern-day thrillers), the stylish set pieces, including a fantastic rooftop chase, and the deliciously manipulative plot twists are very Hitchcockian in their way. But the style is not pastiche, which is the way that idea usually arises; this is the kind of Hitchcockian film made by someone who hasn’t necessarily seen a Hitchcock film before.
