Overview of Lady Vengeance

‘Lady Vengeance’ is a psychological thriller directed by Park Chan-wook. The film tells the vengeance story of Geum-ja, an innocent woman accused and sent to jail for a murder crime. Geum-ja returns from jail with a new motive of vengeance towards the original murder. The movie got great appreciation from the audience and the film world when it was released in 2005.

Profile

• Name: ‘Lady Vengeance’
• Starring: Lee Young-ae, Choi Min-sik
• Directed by: Park Chan-wook
• Produced by: Jo Yeong-wook, Lee Tae-hun
• Written by: Chung Seo-kyung, Park Chan-wook
• Cinematography: Chung Chung-hoon
• Music by: Jo Yeong-wook, Choi Seung-hyun
• Edited by: Kim Jae-bum, Kim Sang-bum
• Distributed by: CJ Entertainment
• Running time: 115 minutes
• Country: South Korea
• Release date: 29 July 2005
• Languages: Korean, English, Japanese

Cast

• Lee Young-ae as Lee Geum-ja
• Choi Min-sik as Mr. Baek (Baek Han-sang)
• Kwon Yea-young as Jenny
• Tony Barry as Jenny’s adoptive father
• Anne Cordiner as Jenny’s adoptive mother
• Kim Si-hoo as Geun-shik
• Oh Dal-su as Mr. Chang
• Song Kang-ho as assassin 1
• Ra Mi-ran as Oh Su-hee
• Lee Seung-shin as Park Yi-jeong
• Go Soo-hee as Ma-nyeo (“Witch”)
• Kim Byeong-ok as The Preacher
• Im Soo-kyung as prison officer
• Seo Young-ju as Kim Yang-hee
• Kim Boo-seon as Woo So-young
• Nam Il-woo as Detective Choi
• Kim Hee-soo as Se-hyun
• Ryoo Seung-wan as passerby
• Shin Ha-kyun as assassin 2
• Oh Kwang-rok as Se-hyun’s father
• Lee Byung-joon as Dong-hwa
• Choi Jung-woo as Dong-hwa’s father
• Seo Ji-hee as Eun-joo
• Kim Jin-goo as Ko Seon-sook
• Kang Hye-jung as TV announcer
• Yoo Ji-tae as grown-up Won-mo, as seen in a vision

Synopsis

Lee Geum-ja is welcomed by a Christian musical procession on her release day from prison after 13 years. The procession carries tofu to gift her as a present to live the rest of her life peacefully. Geum-ja is accused of abducting and killing a 5-year-old schoolboy named Won-mo.

While in jail, Geum-ja pretended kind-hearted to get the admiration of everyone. Through her behaviour, she earned the friendship of other prisoners. After her release from jail, she becomes an employee in a pastry shop and starts a romantic relationship with a young boy named Geun-Shik who is of the same age as Won-mo, the boy she allegedly abducted.

When Geum-ja was a schoolgirl, she becomes pregnant. Scared of her parents and going home in such a condition, she approaches Mr. Baek, her school teacher hoping for a hand of help. Instead of helping her, Mr. Baek becomes the cause that ruins her life.

As a favour in return, Mr. Baek compels her to have intimate relations with him and asks her to assist him in abducting Won-mo. He planned to ransom the child but ended up murdering him.

The detective in charge of investigating Won-mo’s murder was aware of Mr. Baek’s hand in the murder, but he traps Geum-ja and makes her confess to the crime. On the other hand, Mr. Baek threatens her to accept the blame by kidnapping her newborn baby.

Living in prison, she plans to take revenge on Mr. Baek for all that he has caused to her. When she returns from jail, her daughter has already reached adolescence. Growing up as the adopted daughter of Australian parents, Jenny, Geum-ja’s daughter initially deceives her.

Geum-ja discovers that Mr. Baek is still working as a schoolteacher. She plans to kill him after kidnapping him. However, Mr. Baek arranges thugs to kill Geum-ja and his daughter. Geum-ja kills the thugs and captures Mr. Baek.

Mr. Baek is a psycho-killer. He kills the children whom he finds annoying. He treasures the trinkets collected from preys on his phone’s straps. From the phone’s strap, Geum-ja discovers that he killed four more children while she was in jail. Also, she discovers snuff tapes of children that he murdered. Seeing all this, she finds out that he kidnaps children for money and later kills them for his personal satisfaction.

Geum-ja and a detective arrange a meeting with the family members of the abducted children. She reveals the snuff tapes in front of them. An angry group agrees to kill the psycho-killer brutally. They take photos of torturing him and bury his dead body.

After going through a lot in her life Geum-ja tells her daughter to live a calm and peaceful life dipping her face on a white frosted cake.

Theme

From a pure-hearted teenage girl, Geum-ja transforms into a vengeful woman during her 13-year-long jail life. During that time, she lost faith in God and in the law which was supposed to help her. She prepared herself to make pay for the criminal who crumbled down her faith and trust. The unexpected pregnancy of Geum-ja in her high school days makes her seek the help of Mr. Baek, her school teacher because thought of being a mother at an immature stage threatened her.

The movie discusses a serious problem which exists in a society where girls get into the vicious trap of their trusted people in search of a solution in cases like teen pregnancies. Here, Mr. Baek exploited her which later wiped out the gentleness from her heart and injected the desire for vengeance.

Mr. Baek was a psycho-killer who seeks satisfaction in killing innocent children. When Geum-ja approaches him, in return for his favour, Mr. Baek uses her sexually and drags her into his crooked plans. Mr. Baek is the black sheep in the story who jumps from school to school in search of new victim and pleasure.

Instead of bringing out the criminal inside Mr. Beak the detective who investigated the case intentionally saves him by accusing Geum-ja and helps Mr. Beak to save his name. Mr. Beak continues to enjoy his freedom and cruel ways of pleasure-seeking while Geum-ja was in jail.

Geum-ja returns from jail to seek revenge on Mr. Baek. Her 13 years of loneliness as a teenage girl and a young mother sharpened her vengeance weapon. The movie shows the viewers two types of killers, Mr. Baek represents a full-grown psycho killer while the life of Geum-ja shows the journey of a young girl to a cold-hearted murderer.

Awards

• Baeksang Arts Awards 2006
  Best Actress – Lee Young-ae
• Blue Dragon Film Awards 2005
  Best Film
  Best Actress – Lee Young-ae
• Director’s Cut Awards 2005
  Best Actress – Lee Young-ae

Interesting Facts about Lady Vengeance

1. ‘Lady Vengeance’ was a blockbuster in South Korea accumulating a gross profit of $22,590,402.
2. The movie achieved 7th place in the Korean domestic blockbuster hit list.
3. In North America, the movie premiered in the limited release on 28 April 2006 in two theatres.

FAQs

1. Who is the director of the movie ‘Lady Vengeance’?
   Park Chan-wook directed the movie ‘Lady Vengeance’.
2. When is the movie ‘Lady Vengeance’ released?
   The movie ‘Lady Vengeance’ was released on 29 July 2005.
3. Who is the main lead in the movie ‘Lady Vengeance’?
   The lead character in the movie is handled by Lee Young-ae.
4. What is the Instagram ID of Lee Young-ae?
   leeyoungae0824