The Handmaiden
The Handmaiden mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Fujiwara greets Hideko after arriving at the mansion, Sook-Hee is shown in the background when Fujiwara approaches Hideko, walking over to the doors and closing them. It then cuts to Hideko and in the background of the shot, we can see a mirror with Sook-Hee's reflection shown, where she is standing back to her original position, completely still and doing nothing. (00:25:07)

Casual Person

The Handmaiden mistake picture

Continuity mistake: After arriving at the mansion, when Fujiwara walks over to Sook-Hee after talking with Hideko, there is nothing shown in his hands. He then checks out her bone structure with a paper fan in his left hand that he did not have in the previous shot. (00:25:25)

Casual Person

The Handmaiden mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Sook-Hee goes to Fujiwara's room after he arrives at the mansion, he is shown in the background of shot tying his bow tie. Whilst Sook-Hee begins to slide the door shut, Fujiwara lowers his right arm. We then cut to Fujiwara inside the room after the door closes, where he has both hands on the bow tie. (00:26:25)

Casual Person

Continuity mistake: When Sook-Hee walks up to the window to watch a conversation between Fujiwara and Hideko, Fujiwara is shown sitting in a chair and then moves onto a different chair to be beside Hideko. This same scene is shown again later on, including the moment where Sook-Hee first approaches the window, but this time, Fujiwara is already sitting in the chair beside Hideko when the scene starts. (00:38:45 - 01:36:49)

Casual Person

Continuity mistake: Just after Sook-Hee goes back to the house to get the oil paints, she runs back through the forest to find Hideko and Fujiwara kissing. When she finds them, without saying anything, the two turn to see that she is standing there. Later on, when the scene is shown from Hideko's perspective, Sook-Hee says "Lady" when she sees them, which is what lets Hideko and Fujiwara know she is there, even though she didn't say this the first time. There is a scene in the Extended Cut that shows Sook-Hee saying "Lady" when the scene is shown the first time, but this never happens in the Theatrical Cut. (00:40:20 - 01:38:35)

Casual Person

The Handmaiden mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Sook-Hee sees Hideko and Fujiwara kissing after returning with the paints, Hideko begins to stand, placing her right hand on Fujiwara's shoulder to help her stand. She has her elbow upwards when she begins to stand, but when the camera cuts to a closer shot, her elbow is much lower. (00:40:27)

Casual Person

The Handmaiden mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Hideko stands after Sook-Hee sees her kissing Fujiwara, the wind begins to lightly blow her hair. The camera cuts to an angle further away where her hair is being blown at much more and much further apart. (00:40:30)

Casual Person

Continuity mistake: Whilst Hideko is drawing Sook-Hee, Fujiwara tells Sook-Hee, "Now, the model must stay still" and she turns back to writing in her notebook. Her left hand is on the left hand side page near the bottom. She moves her right hand to the top of the page to keep writing. In a close-up shot of the notebook, her left hand is now closer to the top of the left side of the page. (00:47:50)

Casual Person

Continuity mistake: When Sook-Hee stands up after Hideko asks Fujiwara to stop touching her, the notebook she was using is shown on the table with the pages stuck down on the table. In the next shot, the pages on the right hand side of the book are suddenly sticking up. (00:48:15)

Casual Person

Continuity mistake: When Sook-Hee begins to walk out of the room, Fujiwara shows her a coin and tells her to find some other job to do. He is shown holding the coin in a way that positions it upwards and above his hand. When Sook-Hee goes to take the coin, his hand is positioned so that the coin is pointing down towards the ground. (00:48:25)

Casual Person

Continuity mistake: When Hideko is bothered by the soldiers on the ferry, Sook-Hee is shown standing beside Hideko and Fujiwara and in the same position as them. It then cuts to a medium close-up of the three and Sook-Hee has suddenly rotated 90° to the right. (00:54:45)

Casual Person

The Handmaiden mistake picture

Continuity mistake: On the ferry to Shimonoseki, as Hideko becomes upset by a group of cheering soldiers, Fujiwara puts his hand around her left shoulder to console her. In the shot from behind, the part of Hideko's scarf covering the back of her neck is shown blowing in the wind in the opposite direction, as Fujiwara puts his hand on her. When the shot cuts, the scarf is suddenly covering the back of her left shoulder. (00:54:45)

Casual Person

The Handmaiden mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Sook-Hee is speaking with the two doctors from the mental hospital, when she says she is the Lady's handmaiden, the doctor sitting on the right has his hands on his lap. It then cuts to a shot of the two doctors where the doctor on the right is suddenly writing in his notepad. This mistake can only be seen in the Theatrical Cut, as the shot has been extended in the Extended Cut to show the man raising his notepad. (01:00:15)

Casual Person

Continuity mistake: When Kouzuki is hitting young Hideko's knuckles with the brass balls, the last time he hits her, Hideko's arm, whilst being held by Sasaki, lowers to her side. The shot cuts to a wider angle where her arm is suddenly raised again. This only applies to the Theatrical Cut as the Extended Cut shows an alternate shot where Sasaki raises Hideko's arm upwards after Kouzuki hits it. (01:04:23)

Casual Person

Continuity mistake: Just after Sasaki leaves the bedroom, the aunt has Hideko put her hands together so she can empty an envelope with a photo into Hideko's hand. In the wide shot, whilst the aunt is emptying the envelope, Hideko's right hand is placed above her left hand. A close-up shot of the photo in Hideko's hands is then shown, and both of her hands are now shown positioned right next to each other. (01:06:37)

Casual Person

Continuity mistake: When the aunt is teaching Hideko how to speak Japanese through a book of Japanese words, Hideko turns to a page that has a picture of a man and woman on. In the close-up shot of the book, Hideko takes her hand off the page after turning onto it. In the next shot, Hideko's hand is now back on the page and then pulls her hand away from it a second time. (01:07:13)

Casual Person

Continuity mistake: When Kouzuki is telling Hideko what a mental hospital is, whilst he is saying "They dig holes in the dirt, put a patient in each one", he is pointing with his finger. It then cuts to a wide shot of the table where he is no longer pointing his fingers and is instead shown placing his left hand over his right hand. (01:09:33)

Casual Person

The Handmaiden mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Hideko is sitting on the wooden mannequin, whilst Kouzuki wraps the noose around its neck, Hideko places her hands around the mannequin's neck upwards to match the position of the noose. The camera then cuts to a wider shot where Hideko's hands are now downwards so that her hands are touching the bottom of the neck. (01:19:08)

Casual Person

Continuity mistake: When Hideko is being suspended in the air whilst attached to the wooden mannequin, there is an above angle shot of the men watching. There is a man sitting on the second step in front of the hallway where he is shown placing a monocle against his eye. When the camera then cuts to an angle on the ground, the man who had the monocle against his eye is suddenly in the middle of the monocle being lowered. (01:19:30)

Casual Person

Continuity mistake: When Fujiwara is explaining to Hideko that he will rescue her, give her freedom and that they will split the money, Fujiwara takes off his hat and places it on the table. Hideko continues to look at the hat whilst he lowers it, but in the next shot, Hideko is suddenly looking at Fujiwara. (01:28:25)

Casual Person

The Handmaiden mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Sook-Hee is saying goodbye to her friends, just as Kutan starts saying "It should have been me", Gugai is shown holding two babies, one with short hair on his left and one with thick hair on his right. The camera changes angles and the babies have suddenly switched places. The babies also become raised up towards his shoulder in between shots. (00:02:53)

Casual Person

More mistakes in The Handmaiden

Sook-Hee: I need to remind myself that I want to be rich and then travel somewhere far, eat foreign foods, buy bright shiny things and, most importantly... forget about Hideko.

More quotes from The Handmaiden

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