The handyman NEVER meets the wife!!
OK this is what happens in chronological order....
HUGE SPOILER ALERT!!!!
1) Years ago, mistress calls a plumber, and remembers him.
2) Fast forward some years, mistress having affair with the businessman. Businessman's wife finds out and goes to the flat to kill her husband. But husband defends himself and ends up killing her (it's not self defence though because it's too heavy handed. During the attack he cuts his hand.
3) Mistress arrives, and discovers scene. Bandages his hand. He is going to turn himself in, but mistress says this is far too dangerous and they can get away with it. She hatches the plan. They hide the body somewhere temporary (probably flat 302, next door to 303 which we see later).
4) She decides to call the handyman she'd met all those years before. She meets him and tells him that she wants to be kidnapped (she pretends to be the wife of course). She pretends that her "husband" knows nothing of it.
5) They plan it together. Don't forget the dead wife is still in the flat. They go to the restaurant (for the alibi) and pretends to be kidnapped. She gets changed into schoolgirl clothes so as not to be recognised by neighbours and runs to handyman's house. He then thinks he recognises her (as she looks younger) but doesn't tweak that it's the woman whose flat she went to all those years ago.
6) Businessman goes to office, makes a point of asking receptionist if his wife rang, etc. Meanwhile, "mistress" (pretending to be the wife of course) takes handyman to her own flat (models get given the use of the flats) pretending it's her friend's flat (or was it her "sister"?) and she has the keys to feed the fish. He ties her up, she gets turned on by the idea. Possibly.
7) Handyman calls husband (who is of course expecting the call!) and the husband calls the police. Because they need it to look genuine!
8) Police now with husband. Awaiting a further phonecall.
9) It arrives... he asks to meet husband in a park. But while he's on a bench he is reading something about the police being involved (THE ONLY PLOT HOLE, WHAT WAS THAT) and also instructions on calling husband's sister, with name of their child. He calls from his cellphone and arranges to meet her on a platform, he steals the 5 million yen and goes back to the flat in his van.
10) Meanwhile "mistress" has slipped out and had a shower and a bit of legover with the husband in a hotel room. She doesn't have to worry about the instructions about not showering of course, because she's not going to really pretend she was kidnapped. She's going to pretend to be dead.
11) They then go to flat 302, bring real dead wife into flat 303, tie her up, and leave door unlocked. And hide in flat 302 no doubt.
12) Handyman arrives at flat after stealing that money. Rings three times as meant. Goes up. Sees dead wife, thinks that someone has killed the "wife" he has tied up. In fact it's the real dead wife, the "mistress" is next door.
13) Using a voice vocoder thingy, she tells handyman to dispose of body or she'll call the police. It's a masculine voice.
14) Handyman disposes of body in the woods, doesn't look too closely at her face. They're similar anyway.
15) The couple think they've got away with it. That's how it would have ended had the handyman not decided to do some investigating. He pretends to be a policeman and gathers from the estate agent that flats 302 and 303 are owned by the modelling agency and given to the models. He learns that flat 303 where the fishtank is, is owned by someone else (not the name of the wife he thought he was dealing with). He goes to the agency, pretending to be working for a cosmetics company, and meets the girl, a model, who has the flat next-door to the "mistress" but who is never there because she has a boyfriend. It all starts fitting together.
16) Handyman sees "mistress" in the street while driving his son to his ex-wife's house, and knows that he's been duped. He drops off son, goes to the woods and discovers a body. When he sees the face he realises it was not the same person that he had initially tied up.
17) He sees a photo of the mistress on a poster dressed as a waitress. He hangs outside the modelling agency for a while, where the mistress is finishing a photoshoot. To be honest, this may have happened before 16, it's not important.
18) He follows her, and she realises she's in trouble. It's now the handyman's turn to get even. So he tells her to dress up as the wife again and meet the husband and extort 30 million from him. Mistress pretends that she has nothing to do with it. The instructions are to go to room 303 (where they've already hidden the dead "real" wife). They discuss this in a street; the police are tipped off (hence they are in the car and are surprised to see the husband and someone dressed like the real dead wife - husband doesn't understand why she's dressed like that... it's so the police follow, since they've been investigating her death. Clearly they have tipped the police off so that the husband is later caught.
19) Husband is prepared to hand over 30 million, but mistress says that they can double-bluff the handyman. Husband gives her a jackknife. The instructions are so that she can go next door via the balcony (this is of course so she doesn't bump into the police officers).
20) Husband told over phone to look inside bathroom, where he discovers the grizzly truth... the wife he killed, recently dug up. Police come in and arrest him.
21) The body hasn't decomposed, therefore it's only a matter of a few days since the original murder! Mistress/handman had tipped the cops off, who barge in just at the right moment. It's not too farfetched.
22) Mistress escapes from flat 302 while police in 303 arresting husband, and meets handyman in the van. They drive off.
23) When they wake up, handyman about to have sex with Mistress when he discovers knife. Whether or not she was going to use it is irrelevant (it was given to her by the husband after all). It doesn't matter. Probably not. Police car goes by but it drives past. It serves as a distraction, no more, and gives mistress a chance to escape from van while handyman's attention is on passing police car. She throws away knife (she probably wasn't going to use it). We assume there are 30 million yen in the back of the van. She runs through forest. He follows her.
24) There's a rock face in front so she has nowhere to hide. He persuades her to join forces with her, saying he doesn't want to kill her, he is also lonely.
25) She accepts as a joke, then cruelly runs off in another direction. But finds herself cut off by the cliff. She jumps it.
That is the only other poor point in the story for me. There's 30 million Yen in that car, she's a scheming little minx, she's surely going to go with the handyman for her share, seeing he's willing to take her back.
Anyway, there you go, that's what happens. I don't think I've made any major errors there - I'm sure you'll disagree with something though.
TRISTÁN
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