Extended Cut
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Handmaiden
Lexx911 — 9 years ago(October 30, 2016 11:22 AM)
That extended cut added 23 mins with the run time of 167mins. Have anyone seen the extended cut? Does it make it better? I find the theater cut with the relationship between Lady Hideko and Sook-Hee kinda rushed so I wonder if the extended added anything new or worthy to the movie.
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Quest_Shield — 9 years ago(October 31, 2016 05:36 AM)
Watched the extended version last night. Since it's been a while since I watched the theatrical version but the main editions I could see was I think done extra stuff with Wendy on the radio, or Hallorann ringing ahead to book a snow cat, and some extra stuff at the end with Wendy screaming at a room full of cobwebs and skeletons. Didn't really spot the extra scenes until that scene with the skeletons.
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natglee — 9 years ago(October 31, 2016 03:46 PM)
The biggest difference in the extended cut is that the first act is rearranged. In the original flashblacks are introduced from almost the very beginning to inform us of who Sookee is and what she is there to do, as well as who the count is and what he is there to do. And those flashbacks are spread throughout the act. In the extended version we get 25 minutes or so of Sookee's introduction to the house and meeting Hideko, with no flashbacks interruptions or voice overs from her, until the Count arrives and they're able to see each other alone. It is then they both break character and we get just one long flashback of him and Sookee at her house, with all the flashbacks that were spread out in the original, and we learn who they really are. And after that, after we know who Sookee truly is, we're allowed into her head through her voice overs, not before. I thought it did help with the development of Sookee and Hideko because they were allowed to have some longer scenes uninterrupted, so it felt like they had more screentime and their relationship flowed better.
Besides that big change some scenes run a bit longer and some things are added here and there, but nothing huge. But I did prefer the extended because I found the flashblacks in the original somewhat intrusive at times, and I also liked how the extended spends the first 25 minutes just planting lots of things that will pay off later, including some added moments of Hideko puking after her reading with her uncle and saying that she always does it, or something along those lines (which I imagine was meant to make us question why, what is happening in those readings?). The entire introduction, I thought, was meant to give us a ton of clues and introduce a ton of things that later make more sense, and I thought it was neat. I think the original should have been the official release and I'm willing to bet that it was closer to the script, but I imagine they feared they would lose the audience if they had to wait 25 minutes to know what the movie was about.
