• O Yeong-su as Old Monk
• Kim Ki-duk as Adult Monk
• Kim Young-min as Young Adult Monk
• Seo Jae-kyung as Boy Monk
• Park Ji-a as The baby’s mother
• Ha Yeo-jin as The girl
• Kim Jong-ho as Child Monk
• Ji Dae-Han as Detective Ji
• Choe Min as Detective Choi

Synopsis

‘Spring Summer Fall Winter and Spring’ is the story of a young Buddhist monk and his teacher. Each phase of their lives is presented like the changes in the seasons. Also, the movie uses Buddhist symbols to convey unspoken ideas through visuals and images.

Spring

In a floating monastery on the Jusanji Pond lives an old monk and his only disciple. They have an old boat on which they row to the shore to pick herbs and do exercise. Without distractions from the outer world, the teacher and his student lead a peaceful life of prayer and meditation.

Although the young monk leads a calm life with his master, he still engages in notorious activities. One day, he catches a fish from a nearby brook and ties a stone to its body. He enjoys the way the fish tries to swim with the stone. He does the same thing to a frog and a snake and leaves them with the stone that he attached to their bodies without thinking about the difficulties that it will cause.

The master, who was silently watching all his activities, does the same thing to his student while he sleeps. In the morning, the young monk finds a smooth rock tied to his body. The lad approaches his master to learn the meaning behind his unusual act. The old monk orders him not to take off the rock until he unties the rocks that he tied to the bodies of the fish, frog, and snake. Also, the teacher reminds the student that he will not be able to wash out the grief if any of the creatures die due to his silly act.

With the stone on his back, the young monk climbs the hill and finds the fish lying dead by the side of the brook. The frog is alive and has not moved far due to the load on its back. The last creature, the snake, faced a terrible death among the three. Due to the weight on its body, it was unable to escape from its enemies, resulting in its pitiful death. The sight of the snake in a pool of blood makes the lad think about the intensity of his mistake.

Summer

The summer season shows the teenage monk and exposes his hidden desire. The coming of a mother and her teen daughter to the monastery triggers sexual desires in the young monk. The mother brings the daughter to the monastery to treat her illness. The mother returns home, leaving the girl in the monastery when the old monk agrees to treat her illness. Shortly after the arrival of the teenage girl, the young monk becomes sexually attracted to her.

One day, the young monk grasps the breast of the girl when she is asleep. Waking up from sleep, startled, she slaps the young monk. He feels guilty for his act and starts to indulge in prayer frequently.

The girl’s forgiveness strengthens their friendship. Later, it leads to a sexual relationship between them. Without the knowledge of the old monk, the teenagers, consumed by sexual desires, indulge in sexual activities for a couple of nights. However, the old monk catches them when they sleep naked in the rowboat.

The old monk, who has mastered his emotions, calmly warns his disciple that lust eventually leads to murder. Also, he sent the girl home, claiming she had recovered from her unspecified illness. The separation of the girl becomes unbearable for the young monk. Therefore, he flees the monastery in search of her by stealing the rooster and a statue of Buddha.

Fall

After the departure of the young monk in search of the girl, the old monk lives alone in his floating monastery. One day, he brings a cat to the monastery as a companion. However, he starts expecting his old disciple once again in the monastery.

As expected, the young monk, now a married man, appears at the doorstep of his old teacher. He is full of anger and carries a bloody knife in his hand. He opened up the story of his married life to his spiritual teacher. He has become the murderer of his wife due to her illicit relationship with another man.

The confession about his failed married life and the murder makes the young monk distressed. Therefore, he decides to die using the spiritual way that he learned from his master. He prepares himself by sealing his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth using paper with the word ‘Closed’ scribbled on it in Chinese.

The young monk’s decision to commit suicide angers the old monk, and for the first time in his life, he beats his student to death. He punishes him by telling him that he cannot escape easily. The severe punishments and the words of his master trigger a feeling of repentance.

The old monk orders his former disciple to carve Chinese letters in the deck with the bloody knife to make him calm. The young monk obeys and starts his work. The next day, two detectives arrive at the monastery in search of the murderer. The old monk requests the detectives to wait for a day until his disciple finishes his work.

The young monk works without a break and falls asleep the minute he finishes carving. Influenced by the calmness and spirituality of the atmosphere and the old monk, the detectives take up the duty of painting the carvings.

When the young monk wakes up, he leaves the monastery with the detectives. The old monk waves them off by standing on the deck. After the trio leaves, the old monk performs the death ritual by building a pyre on his boat and seals his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth using papers scribbled with the word ‘Closed’ on it. He lights the pyre, and while it burns, a snake jumps out of the boat and swims towards the monastery.

Summer

Years later, the young monk returns to the lake where the monastery is situated. The lake is frozen, causing everything in the lake to stagnate. He discovers his master’s clothes and learns about his death. From the ice, he digs out the old monk’s teeth and cremates them in a proper way.

Later, he starts training himself by reading the sacred books. As days pass, one day, a young mother, covering her face with a scarf, comes to the monastery with her newborn baby. She leaves the place, abandoning her child there. However, on her way back, she falls into an ice pit that was dug by the young monk the previous day and dies.

Spring

The young monk undergoes severe training and becomes the new master of the monastery. He lives with the boy child, who was once abandoned by his mother a few years ago. The young boy has become the apprentice of the new master.

Later, the movie shows the same cycle of life that once the young monk lived. The new apprentice soon starts tormenting other creatures. He torments a turtle and later fills the mouths of a fish, a frog, and a snake with stones. The movie ends by showing the statue of Buddha, the great teacher.

Theme

‘Spring Summer Fall Winter and Spring’ tells the story of a Buddhist teacher and his single discipline. The teacher and the disciple lead a calm and peaceful life in the floating monastery. Through the lives of the teacher and the student, themes like greed, anger, and the foolishness of mankind are depicted. As the movie progresses, each theme is described using symbolism like a snake, pig, and rooster. The snake symbolises anger, the rooster symbolises greed, and the pig symbolises foolishness.

Awards

No information is available.

Interesting Facts about Spring Summer Fall Winter and Spring

1. The international version of ‘Spring Summer Fall Winter and Spring’ censored some portions due to the exhibition of animal cruelty.
2. ‘Jeongseon Arirang’ is the song played at the end of the movie. It is a traditional song sung by Kim Young-im.
3. Kim Ki-duk, the director, writer, and one of the actors in the movie said “I intended to portray the joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure of our lives through four seasons and through the life of monk who lives in a temple on Jusan Pond surrounded only by nature”.
4. The hermitage which floats on the Jusanji Pond is an artificial one constructed for the filming of the movie. Also, the Jusanji Pond itself is an artificial reservoir constructed for agricultural purposes.
5. It took six months of negotiation with the Ministry of Environment to get permission to construct a hermitage.

FAQs

1. Who is the director of ‘Spring Summer Fall Winter and Spring’?
   Kim Ki-duk.
2. What is the Instagram ID of Ha Yeo-jin?
   @yeohajin___.
3. When is the movie ‘Spring Summer Fall Winter and Spring’ released?
   19 September 2003.