Sympathy For Lady Vengeance

Park Chan-Wook, South Korea, 2005, 112 minutes

The concluding chapter in Chan-Wook Park’s revenge trilogy, Lady Vengeance also links the theme of unjust incarceration with its predecessor, Oldboy. Holding a thirteen year grudge, Miss Geum-Ja seeks retribution against the man responsible for wrecking her life. Her fellow inmates provide her with a job, and she begins a parasitic relationship with a younger man. Now her complicated back-story comes to light. As a pregnant teenager, she moved in with a stranger who blackmailed her for the purposes of kidnapping and torturing a child. Betrayed by her 'accomplice', she is sentenced for this horrific crime and branded a demon by the Korean public. The literal translation of the film’s title is 'Kind-Hearted Miss Geum-Ja’, and in prison she is presented as an angelic figure. Her conspirators do suspect that her kindly actions masked her true nature, yet questions arise whether this innocent woman is capable of orchestrating such a bloody plan.

As expected the film is graphic and unsettling, but a more humane tone prevails. The primary force driving this picture is atonement - revelations in the second half inform Geum-Ja that her thirst for revenge is a mere drop in the ocean, and that for her sins she carries an even greater responsibility. The acting is flawless, the direction is visually flamboyant yet, as with Oldboy, it is the moral centre that unveils the film’s brilliance. Park originally envisaged a chromatic shift as events transpire - beginning in full colour and then gradually fading to black, thus reflecting the bleak nature of the film. Sadly this radical concept was not realised in time for the cinematic release.

Review by Chay Williamson
Written for EUFS Programme Autumn 2006