Is This Allowed? | Why “The Handmaiden” Rewrites Sapphic Sex on Screen Artwork

Faking It with Ariel and Morgan

Faking It with Ariel and Morgan is the podcast that strips down the mystery of Hollywood’s most private moments, and makes you laugh while doing it. Hosted by Intimacy Coordinators Ariel Leigh Cohen and Morgan Smith, each episode dives into the world of film sets, sex scenes, and all the awkward, hilarious, and surprisingly tender stories that come with them.

From behind-the-scenes Hollywood secrets to spicy movie moments, we’re here to answer the questions you didn’t even know you had: How do actors fake it? What really happens under the covers on set? And what the actors are really wearing?

Expect a mix of comedy, storytelling, and real talk about intimacy, relationships, filmmaking, and the art of pretending. If you’re into funny film podcasts, behind-the-scenes stories, acting tips, NSFW comedy, and Hollywood chaos, you’ve just found your new obsession.

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Faking It with Ariel and Morgan

Is This Allowed? | Why “The Handmaiden” Rewrites Sapphic Sex on Screen

January 21, 2026 • Season 1 • Episode 12

0:00 | 33:56

This episode is a love letter to immaculate choreography, devastating eye contact, and sapphic tension that could power a small city.

Ariel and Morgan dive into the two iconic intimacy scenes from Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden: with scenes so explicit, so intentional, and so beautifully constructed that they still feel transgressive nearly a decade later. Set during Japan’s occupation of Korea in the 1930s, the film takes familiar sapphic tropes and flips them inside out, using intimacy as liberation rather than spectacle.

They break down why these scenes work on every level:

How the film weaponizes restraint, pacing, and POV to build erotic tension
Why a simple hand-grip deserves its own IMDb credit
How sapphic sex is framed as joy, discovery, and mutual power, not performance
And why this might be one of the best examples of the female gaze in modern cinema

They also unpack the behind-the-scenes approach to filming the intimacy, the deliberate removal of the male gaze, and why The Handmaiden remains a gold standard for what intimate storytelling can look like when trust and intention lead the way.

It’s sexy, funny, deeply thoughtful, and a reminder that sometimes the most radical thing a movie can do is let women actually enjoy each other.

Want to watch along? Our reaction covers 41:47 to 46:56 and 1:39:53 to 1:44:00. We cut around the clip, so it won’t sync perfectly, but you’ll absolutely get the point.

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Credits — The Handmaiden (2016)

Director: Park Chan-wook
Writers: Park Chan-wook; Chung Seo-kyung
Based on the novel: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Producers: Park Chan-wook; Syd Lim
Actors (featured): Kim Min-hee as Lady Hideko, Kim Tae-ri as Sook-hee
© 2016 Moho Film / Yong Film. All rights reserved.

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