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(CNN)When we meet at the Korean Cultural Center in London, the first thing I see of Park Chan-wook is the back of his head.
The acclaimed director and one-time film critic is perusing the center’s movie archive, eyes fixed on titles from years past. For an achingly long moment he’s oblivious to my company.
It’s the only awkward instant in an interview ripe with possibilities: after all, we’re sitting down to discuss what might be this year’s steamiest film on the right side of good taste.
“The Handmaiden“, launched at Cannes and screening at the London Film Festival, is Park’s homage to “Fingersmith” by Welsh novelist Sarah Waters. It’s a historical crime tale wrapped in lust and psychosexual drama, for which Park has transported the narrative from nineteenth century England to 1930s colonial era Korea and Japan, putting the director firmly back on home soil after his first Hollywood foray with “Stoker” in 2013.
“When you think of the original definition of auteur, it is one who has a consistent body of work, or someone who creates a unified impression,” he argues. “You could also say such an auteur would use a specific and particular way of expression.
“The auteur is repeating the world that the auteur is creating… I don’t necessarily think that I fit in within that definition when it comes to the notion of consistency or repetition.”
But what of the Vengeance Trilogy (“Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance“, “Oldboy” and “Lady Vengeance“)? There’s a clear line between those three films at least. Park’s brow furrows, then he smiles.
“It is me who called that series of films the Vengeance Trilogy,” he concedes. “So even if I don’t like the label auteur, I take responsibility for it!”
“The Handmaiden”, released in South Korea, opens in the US on October 21 and the UK on February 17.
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