Kim Min-hee can keep a character's secrets without withholding her warmth. We value the curiosity she brings to The Handmaiden and the restraint of her work with Hong Sang-soo, though Park Chan-wook's camera sometimes gets in the way.
Fi1m perspective
In The Handmaiden (2016), Kim Min-hee's Lady Hideko makes the prospect of trusting another person matter amid a great deal of plotting. Her attraction to Kim Tae-ri's Sook-hee has warmth and curiosity, so we have more to watch than two performers keeping secrets. Neither actress treats keeping the audience guessing as the whole job, and their chemistry gives the romance room to develop. We rate Kim highly here because she makes Hideko worth caring about while Park Chan-wook is busy arranging his narrative tricks.
Praise for that performance sits some distance from the early complaints that Kim's acting was wooden. Goodbye Solo (2006) and Hellcats (2008) marked a reassessment, followed by domestic recognition for Helpless (2012) and Very Ordinary Couple (2013). The international breakthrough came with The Handmaiden, but the change in her reputation was already well under way. Her work as Hideko makes the old charge of blankness difficult to sustain.
We were moved by the tenderness of the sex scenes in The Handmaiden, because Kim and Kim Tae-ri make the women's curiosity about each other palpable. They give the scenes an emotional purpose beyond displaying bodies. Park's camera sometimes seems too concerned with how carefully those bodies have been presented, and that remains a reservation about the film. Kim makes desire feel like something Hideko is discovering, with another person there to discover it with her.
Her work with Hong Sang-soo began with Right Now, Wrong Then (2015), before that international breakthrough. On the Beach at Night Alone (2017) and The Woman Who Ran (2020) belong to the continuing collaboration. His dialogue-led films give her women time to talk through personal difficulties. Her restraint and poise suit the close attention to character in The Woman Who Ran. Start with The Handmaiden for the warmth beneath the intrigue; try The Woman Who Ran when the evening can accommodate a quieter film.
Biography
Kim Min-hee is a South Korean actress. She was born on 1 March 1982 in Seoul and studied theatre and film at Dankook University.
She first gained recognition for roles in Hellcats (2008), Helpless (2012) and Very Ordinary Couple (2013). International attention followed her performance as Lady Hideko in Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden (2016).
Since 2015 she has appeared exclusively in films directed by Hong Sang-soo, including Right Now, Wrong Then (2015), On the Beach at Night Alone (2017), for which she received the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival, The Woman Who Ran (2020) and later works such as By the Stream (2024).
