A persuasive examination of how the past can form us even when we don’t know everything about it, Pawel Pawlikowski’s tranquil Polish film usually takes area in the sixties, when World War II has ended but nevertheless grips people’s life. That’s how you know the person is a legend. We’re not conditioned to glimpse for humanity in pantomimes of a sexually specific nature, but that’s just when The Handmaiden is at its most human.