Wow. Let me say that again, wow. This is a gorgeous and epic Korean period tragedy about the horrors of love within a caste system. It is based on a novel, but that Novel is in fact a fictionalized account of the life of an actual gisaeng (a Korean Courtesan much like a Japanese Geisha) in the Joseon era, though this account is not supposed to be at all historically accurate.. This is an amazingly well done film. It is absolutely beautiful and acted incredibly well from start to finish. Sure you know it will end in tragedy, but you care so much for these characters that you wish beyond dreams that something will stop the inevitable, but then if someone could it would not be inevitable. The film is long, but enjoyable throughout, and evening has some decent action thrown in, though only here to move the story forward. The Korean press has not been so kind, but I certainly don’t agree, to me this is a must see.

The film starts with a man named Nom-Yi [Yoo Ji-tae (ì유지태ƒœ)] who is playing a game of cards against a man who used to run the Hwang household until the Baron died, and he ran away with the money. He forces the man to give him the money, and then goes out and helps his friend (Oh Tae-kyeong (오태경)] deal with some local bandits. Nom Yi then brings the goods to the Hwang household and because the new Steward. Quickly we learn that the daughter of the baron Jin Yi [the stunning Song Hye-kyo (송혜교)] is set to marry a rich aristocrat. We then go into the past and see that Nom Yi was Hwang Jin Yi’s servant as a child, and they loved each other, but she got him to sneak her out of the house once to the fair, and this almost caused the baron to kill him, but because of her pleading he was only cast out. On his return he meets a beautiful woman also looking into the house from afar, and starts taking care of her. Jin Yi convinces her grandmother [ Yoon Yeo-jeong (ìœ¤ì—¬ì •)] to let her go out once and see the town before she is sent off to be married, but she sneaks to the brothel street, and gets in trouble, but is saved by Nom Yi. Nom Yi then leaves and goes to the family she will be marrying into, to tell them something. And Jin Yi and her granny see him in a funeral procession. The marriage is called off, as the truth is known, and Jin Yi’s mother tells her than in fact she was the daughter of her maid, whom the baron raped, so she isn’t really aristocracy at all. Jin Yi has to make a decision, to pretend to be aristocracy and become a concubine, become a slave, or cast herself into the brothels. She has learned the woman was her mother, and she went into brothels after she was cast out from the house, so that is where she will go, but she asks Nom Yi to go with her as her procurer and protector, and gives him her virginity. He doesn’t want to, because he admits he gave up the secret after he found her mother because he wanted to bring her to her level, but not destroy her.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

Nom Yi sleeps with her, and then tries to protect her, as the life of a Gisaeng who was once aristocracy could not be more hard, but he can’t handle seeing her in other mens arms ever night, and eventually leaves her, but not before crushing the balls and killing a man who hurt her.

Now 5 year later Jin Yi has changed her named is now the highest gisaeng in the land, known far and wide for her poetry and skills, and when the new Magistrate [Ryoo Seung-yong (류승용)] arrives he wants only her, though he fancies himself a gentleman and will only sleep with someone who wants to sleep with him, so they don’t sleep together. Instead he uses her to seduce other men who consider themselves of high virtue, and ruins them in front of his friends as amusement.

Nom Yi is back as well, though he now runs the bandits, as there is a major food shortage, so he and his men steal food from the rich and powerful and from the Magistrate to feed the poor, though he does not talk to Jin Yi. His friend does serve her now, and is in love with her maid [Jeong Yoo-mi ((정유미)], and he still sees Nom Yi.

The magistrate sends Nom Yi to break a scholar in the woods, but instead she is changed and sees the world differently.

2 of the Magistrates men have stolen a bunch of Chinese treasure from the people, and have blamed Nom Yi for theft and murder, so he comes back and proves his innocence to the people, but is hit by an arrow as he escapes, so Jin Yi goes to care for him. He promises to leave with his people to an uncharted isle to create a paradise. She asks what her place is, and he says he will work and she can watch the beautiful sunsets.

Nom Yi leaves with his men, to wait for a boat that will take them away. And Jin Yi stops seeing the Magistrate as she is preparing for her maids wedding, but the Magistrate learns of the grooms connection to Nom Yi and has him arrested at the wedding. Jin Yi tries to hide if from Nom Yi and promises to save the groom, which she does by finally sleeping with the magistrate, though she does not truly give into him, and exposes his fraud as a gentleman,

It is too late though, as Nom Yi has decided to give himself up to save his friend, not knowing his friend is safe. And he is arrested and set to be executed. Jin Yi goes to her love Nom Yi in prison and professes that he was her only love in life, and makes him the happiest man in the world, because he has the love that he always wanted, and that caused him to do the worst thing in his life, and expose the secret of Jin Yi. She then leaves and he is executed, and she takes his remains and goes away and climbs the highest mountain to release the ashes of her lover into the wind, so they can always be together.

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Really a lovely film. Sure it isn’t a fast paced Hollywood send up, but oh the better for it not being so. This is a gorgeous and lovely if very depressing film.