Different Expressions of Queer Feminist Film Narrative from the Perspective of Anti-“Gaze”: A Case Study of The Handmaiden and Portrait of a Lady on Fire

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-382-5_99How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Queer Feminist Cinema; Gaze; Anti-Gaze; The Handmaiden; Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Abstract

The South Korean film The Handmaiden, directed by Park Chan-wook, and the French film Portrait of a Lady on Fire, directed by Céline Sciamma, exert substantial influence in the field of queer feminist film studies. However, the narrative differences between these two films have not been adequately explored. This paper, based on Laura Mulvey’s concept of the “gaze,” introduces Simone de Beauvoir’s notion of “the Other” to examine the distinct visual styles and ideological cores of these two similar-type films in terms of character portrayal, narrative expression, and ending design, thereby exploring the diversified expressions of queer feminist cinema. Firstly, through a rigorous review of the literature, I scientifically define the concept of “anti-gaze,” filling a scholarly gap. Secondly, I propose a re-interpretation of the two films through three dimensions: “The choice of the gazer and the gazed,” “The expression of the process of gazing and anti-gazing,” and “Female identity after anti-gazing. “I argue that The Handmaiden embodies Laura Mulvey’s traditional concept of the male power gaze, using impactful visual elements like sex and eroticism to directly confront and resist the gaze expressed between men and women, and between women themselves, under unequal power relations. The escape of the two female protagonists at the end represents a temporary respite. In contrast, Portrait of a Lady on Fire completely avoids male presence, exploring the male gaze from a female perspective. Its painterly visuals depict the transformation of the female painter’s gaze from being objectified by men to an intense and equal mutual gaze with the lady, culminating in a conclusion where the two women do not achieve a conventional happy ending, but rather a genuine self-identity realization under the historical context. Through a comparative analysis of the narratives of the two films, this paper attempts to uncover more possibilities in the narrative structure of queer feminist films, thereby encouraging deeper exploration of the lives of marginalized groups within the cinema.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Yutong Xue
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/03/28
TI  - Different Expressions of Queer Feminist Film Narrative from the Perspective of Anti-“Gaze”: A Case Study of The Handmaiden and Portrait of a Lady on Fire
BT  - Proceedings of the 2024 International Conference on Social Sciences and Educational Development (ICOSSED 2024)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1035
EP  - 1043
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-382-5_99
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-382-5_99
ID  - Xue2025
ER  -