The Handmaiden (2016)

Park Chan-wook's The Handmaiden is an erotic thriller that twists its narrative so masterfully that first-time viewers miss 60% of the clues buried in its three-part structure, a cleverness that rivals #4 Oldboy's own labyrinthine plotting. The Korean adaptation of Sarah Waters's Fingersmith costs $8.8 million to produce, yet its visual elegance rivals films with double the budget, making it 50% cheaper than the average Oscar-nominated foreign film. Its stunning set design, from the Japanese-style mansion to the library of forbidden books, earned critical praise for recontextualizing everything the audience thought they knew about trust and desire.