The Handmaiden (2016)
I watched this last week but it surely isn't appropriate to watch. Sick plot.
It would definitely not have passed muster with the National Legion of Decency in the olden days, that's for certain. But these days, I don't know. We are living in the reign of relativism, and even on a traditional Catholic forum, "inappropriate" is a subjective and contentious term. Some years ago, I would've cared. Nowadays I've reverted to just watching the same kinds of movies I always did.
The Handmaiden is an interesting movie in terms of aesthetics, the way it creates a dreamy world, lingering on scenes of girls in Victorian dresses carrying dainty parasols while strolling the manicured gardens of an imposing brick mansion, and mahogany-paneled libraries full of antiquarian books with woodcuts of Asian erotica. I mostly enjoyed it, even though it was melodramatic and over-the-top at parts. I'd give it four stars out of five, but it's not a personal favorite or anything. My all-time favorite movie is
Barry Lyndon, which I believe is rated PG, due to a scene where Marisa Berenson's breasts are briefly exposed while she's lying in a bath.
I guess you could say it's an occasion of sin, but there's just no standard for "occasion of sin" anymore. It's left for the individual to decide. Do you remember the poster named Jerome, who came onto the forum and started pointing out how
just about every other movie in this thread is filled with mortal sin? He was actually in the right, but anyone can read the thread and see the reactions. You can see the snark and sarcasm come out—the typical modes of defense that get reared whenever people are made uncomfortable (and the laughter that colors that sort of jocularity is undoubtedly a
nervous laughter).
It's my own theory that Bishop Williamson bears some responsibility in all this, because as soon as he deemed
The Sound of Music "pornographic," he lost all credibility as a movie critic, and that was the decisive moment where traditional Catholics could reasonably differ with their hierarchy, and cultural standards slid further (and I would say irrevocably) away from the monolithic to the diverse. Even if the Catholic Church were restored to tradition tomorrow, with a Pope Fellay, and the Vatican set up an authoritative film advisory board, I would bet that a lot of traditional Catholics would still feel content to ignore it as "too prudish" or some such. The prevailing attitude of the day is dissent and rebellion. Yet somehow I don't mind it. I recently watched a movie I really and truly enjoyed, which I would assign a full five stars to, called
Diary of a Chambermaid. Even though it takes place a hundred years ago, it really captures the spirit of the age. In another thread, it was mentioned how some French women can be "cold and aloof," and there might be a grain of truth to that. The lead actress in
Diary of a Chambermaid, Lea Seydoux, has a face and a fierce gaze that are able to really capture that coldness and contemptuousness. This is a creature that kicks at the goad and bristles at the bit, hurling half-audible curses under her breath at her cruel employer. "What did you say?" "Nothing." I loved it.
I might make a thread where we can list our "Top 20 movies of the current millennium." That one would be on mine.
