Overview of Homme Fatale

‘Homme Fatale’ is a South Korean romantic comedy movie directed by Nam Dae-joong. The movie is set in the Joseon Dynasty is about a charming male courtesan named Huh Saek. It is starred by Lee Jun-ho and Jung So-min and was released on 10 July 2019. Lee Jun-ho is famous for his works ‘King the Land’, ‘Rain or Shine‘, ‘The Red Sleeve’ and many more. Whereas Jung So-min is famous for her roles in ‘Because This Is My First Life‘, ‘Alchemy of Souls’, etc.

Profile

• Name: Homme Fatale
• Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
• Starring: Lee Jun-ho, Jung So-min
• Director: Nam Dae-joong
• Running time: 110 minutes
• Distributed by: CJ Entertainment
• Production Companies: Pancinema, JYP Entertainment
• Release Date: 10 July 2019
• Language: Korean
• Country: South Korea

Cast

• Lee Jun-ho as Huh Saek
• Jung So-min as Hae Won
• Lee Il-hwa as old Hae Won
• Ye Ji-won as Nan Seol
• Jeon No-min as old man
• Choi Gwi-hwa as Yook Gam
• Cho Yi-hyun as Soo Yang
• Gong Myung as Yoo Sang
• Baek Joo-hee as Yeol-nyeo
• Shin Eun-soo as Suk Jeong

Synopsis

On a pleasant day, a girl who is in search of Huh Saek, an artist to draw a portrait of her, meets an old man in a field. He tells her the way to the artist’s house. By the time she reaches the artist’s house, the old man whom she met in the field was already there. She finds out that he is the artist whom she is searching for. Sitting in front of him as the model for the portrait, she asks about the ‘Gibang boy’ in the portrait hanging on the wall.

Seeing the curiosity of the girl, old Huh Saek starts to narrate his own life story. He was born and brought up at a ‘Gibang’, a place where young women entertain customers. After the death of his mother, his aunt, the proprietor of the ‘Gibang’, takes his guardianship. For him, Gibang is his home, and the girls who live there are his sisters. However, with all his good looks, he is indeed a flirtatious man.

One day, his aunt finds him flirting with a female guest and throws him out of Gibang. But at night he returns as a guest with his new friend Yook Gam, the hermit with whom he made friendship in the woods. This time, his aunt locks him and Yook Gam in a room. Meanwhile, a guest arrives in Gibang. The Gisaengs start to worry when the guest complains about everything that they do. They approached Huh Saek for a solution, and he daringly accepts the challenge of serving the guest.

As he assumed, the guest is a young widow in disguise. After the death of her husband, she has been trapped in the rigid traditional customs that a widow should follow. To escape from her frustrated life, she sneaks into the Gibang disguised as a man. The news about the young courtesan spread like wildfire among women. To save Gibang from debt, Huh Saek and Yook Gam start to market the new business. As they slowly start getting out of the debt, he meets Hae Won, a young lady.

When Huh Saek meets Hae Won for the second time, she and her little maiden girl are trying to pluck fruits from a tree. To start a friendship, he helps her pluck fruits. After meeting a few more times, a friendship starts to bud between them. However, Yoo Sang is not happy with Hae Won’s new friendship.

Yoo Sang is Hae Won’s ill brother’s friend. He is a nobleman and wishes to marry Hae Won. Hae Won is waiting for her elder brother to pass a prestigious examination. One day, Yoo Sang talks about the marriage proposal that he has in mind.

The friendship between Hae Won and Huh Saek grows stronger, and they start to sneak out at night together to watch the night sky.

However, one day, reality comes into play. Sook Jung, a Gisaeng whom Huh Saek is fond of, commits suicide when her husband leaves her and marries a noblewoman. The loss of Sook Jung is unbearable for Huh Saek. He set fire to the virtuous house of women, which does not permit any Gisaengs.

Meanwhile, Yoo Sang and Hae Won arrive in front of the burning building. They see Huh Saek faint on the ground due to the blow that he got on the back of his head. Hae Won stops Yoo Sang, who is ready to kill Huh Saek. Therefore, Yoo Sang locks him up.

The situation forces Hae Won to agree to the marriage with Yoo Sang. One night, she secretly visits Huh Saek in prison. While asking him about the reason for hiding his true identity from her, he responded coldly. Losing hope, Hae Won leaves the prison.

Later, Huh Saek’s aunt and Yook Gam bribe the guards to rescue Huh Saek. However, Huh Saek does not agree with their plan to flee together. Instead, he leaves them and flees to the place where he currently lives. The old Huh Saek completed the portrait of the girl by the time he finished narrating his life’s story.

With her portrait in hand, she goes to her aunt, who was waiting with her servants. Seeing the girl, her aunt enthusiastically asks about the old artist, revealing the old lady is actually Hae Won. She opens the portrait of the girl, but the old man drew the picture of young Hae Won instead of the other girl. As they depart after learning about his welfare, Huh Saek watches them leave standing in front of his house.

Theme

‘Homme Fatale’ discusses the lives of women in the Joseon period. The women who lose their husbands at an early age are sent to the virtuous woman’s house. There, they are forced to practice celibacy. As widows, they are no longer allowed to live the normal life again.

To escape from their unexciting lives, they rely on the handsome Gisaeng, who is new in the market. Huh Saek, being the Gisaeng, gives the widows sympathy and listens to them patiently. He is portrayed as a character who thinks about the frustrated lives of women in that society.

Awards

Information is not available.

Interesting Facts about Homme Fatale

1. ‘Homme Fatale’ is also called ‘Gibang Bachelor’.
2. ‘Gisaeng’ in Korean means ‘courtesan’, and the film ‘Homme Fatale’ is the story of the first male courtesan in the Joseon dynasty.
3. Rather than casual humour, the kind of comedy involved in ‘Homme Fatale’ is mostly ironic.

FAQs

1. When is the movie ‘Homme Fatale’ released?
   ‘Homme Fatale’ was released on 10 July 2019.
   
2. Who is the director of ‘Homme Fatale’?
   Nam Dae-joong is the director of ‘Homme Fatale’.
   
3. What is the Instagram ID of Lee Jun-ho?
   @le2jh.
4. what is the Instagram ID of Jung So-min?
   @somin_jj.