Overview of The Princess and the Matchmaker

‘The Princess and the Matchmaker’ is a feel-good romantic movie directed by Hong Chang-pyo and released in 2018. Starring Shim Eun-kyung and Lee Seung-gi, it tells the story of the Princess Songhwa and a horoscope reader Seo Do-yoon. The movie highlights the value of love and how it affects the balance of the earth. Also, it suggests that love can promise a happier life than a desperate luxurious one.

Profile

• Movie: ‘The Princess and the Matchmaker’
• Genre: Romance, Comedy
• Director: Hong Chang-pyo
• Writer: Lee So-mi
• Starring: Shim Eun-kyung, Lee Seung-gi, Kim Sang-kyung, Kang Min-hyuk, Choi Woo-shik, Yeon Woo-jin
• Cinematography: Lee Hyung-deok
• Production Company: Jupiter Film
• Distributed by: CJ Entertainment
• Release Date: 28 February 2018
• Running Time: 110 minutes
• Language: Korean
• Country: South Korea

Cast

Main

• Shim Eun-Kyung as Princess Songhwa
• Choi Woo-shik as Nam Chi-ho
• Kang Min-hyuk as Kang Hwi
• Lee Seung-gi as Seo Do-yoon
• Yeon Woo-jin as Yoon Shi-kyung

Supporting

• Han Sung-yun as Song-hwa
• Kim Do-yeop as Jo Yoo-sang
• Park Sun-young as Young-bin
• Lee Yoon-gun as Park In
• Park Choong-sun as Eunuch Jang
• Jo Bok-rae as Gae-shi
• Kim Sang-kyung as King
• Kim Joo-hun as Yook Son

Synopsis

The movie tells the story of Princess Songhwa born to a King and his concubine. According to astrology, Princess Songhwa has intense energy in her horoscope. The astrologers consider the peculiar energy that she possesses as unlucky for people with feeble energy. Therefore, she is raised outside the palace for a few years but is soon taken back to the palace when the King falls ill.

When Princess Songhwa reaches the age of marriage, the kingdom gets hit by alarming draught making the land solid. The rituals conducted earlier by the King for rain were fruitless and the astrologers report that the reason for the drought is the imbalance caused and it can be restored through marriages. Therefore, the King announces the marriage of Princess Songhwa and he entrusts a man, Seo Do-yoon to read the horoscope of Princess Songhwa.

Princess Songhwa sneaks out of the palace disguised as her maid Mani to meet the four selected grooms. She meets Yoon Shi-kyung when he is walking with Seo Do-yoon. Yoon Shi-kyung once called off his marriage with the Princess. Seo Do-yoon asks Yoon Shi-kyung the reason for calling off the marriage three years ago and what is the motive behind his enrolment as the candidate for the second time. Yoon Shi-kyung answers that he was then afraid of even kissing the Princess and now things have changed.

Their conversation breaks when a man middles in and asks Yoon Shi-kyung to meet His Highness immediately. Princess Songhwa overhears the conversation and is upset by how others conceive her identity. She runs to Seo Do-yoon and kisses him thinking that he is Yoon Shi-kyung. Seo Do-yoon gets utterly shocked by her act and she leaves the place without any explanation.

Mani assigned a servant to collect the names of the grooms. The servant steals the horoscopes of the candidates from Seo Do-yoon instead of collecting their names and gives them to the Princess. Princess Songhwa determines to meet the four candidates in person and in order to meet the first candidate she disguises herself as a man.

Unexpectedly, she meets Seo Do-yoon in front of the first candidate’s house. To escape from Seo Do-yoon, she lies to him that it is her only way to meet the nobleman inside, her love, for the last time, therefore Seo Do-yoon takes her inside with him. To her surprise, the first candidate is an old man with a child.

To see the second candidate Kang Hwi, she goes to a brothel with a different identity. Kang Hwi is a handsome man with plenty of female admirers. Coincidently, Seo Do-yoon also appears there and takes away the drunken Princess from the drinking party. Seo Do-yoon becomes suspicious and he keeps her horoscope in mind which he already collected to read the marriage harmony of her with the first candidate.

However, he starts to have feelings for her. From there, she moves to find the third candidate Nam Chi-ho. The Princess is pleased by his affectionate nature. However, she understands Nam Chi-ho ruthless nature when she interacts with his servants. Her act of buying food for Nam Chi-ho servants infuriates his anger and he follows her to punish, but Seo Do-yoon rescues her from him.

A spy of Yoon Shi-kyung, informs him about the Princess’s escape from the palace in search of the grooms in the selected list. Yoon Shi-kyung plans to marry the Princess to gain power, but if the Princess learns about his hidden intention his plans will be destroyed. Therefore, he orders his men to abduct her from Seo Do-yoon’s custody.

Yoon Shi-kyung’s men take the Princess to him. By the time Seo Do-yoon reaches the land of Yoon Shi-kyung, he makes Seo Do-yoon and the others believe that they have already slept together. Yoon Shi-kyung’s locks up Seo Do-yoon. To wipe out the shame caused to the kingdom, the King makes arrangements for the marriage of the Princess and Yoon Shi-kyung.

Seo Do-yoon manages to escape from the arrest of Yoon Shi-kyung and hurries to stop the wedding. When the marriage ceremony is about to start Seo Do-yoon breaks in revealing the truth. Seo Do-yoon informs the King that Yoon Shi-kyung exchanged his horoscope of him with Seo Do-yoon to match with the horoscope of the Princess and if Yoon Shi-kyung marries the Princess it will cause endless pain for her.

Also, he tells the King about the Queen’s hand in this scheme. The King calls off the marriage and punishes Yoon Shi-kyung and his men. Seo Do-yoon is asked to put down his titles and leave the kingdom as punishment. Princess Songhwa expresses her love for Seo Do-yoon and her wish to live with him. Seeing his daughter’s sincere love, he permits his daughter to leave the kingdom by putting down her title and to leave with the man she loves. Finally, it rains when the couples unite.

Theme

Princess Songhwa went through a lot for being born with an intense amount of energy in her horoscope. When she reaches the age of marriage, she takes the chance to sneak out of the palace to learn about the men shortlisted in the eligibility test to marry her. Since she is not ready to let things simply happen like how it happened when she was young. It is only when she steps into the commoner’s world that she recognises the scarcity and crises faced by her people. Furthermore, the interaction with the villagers gives her an idea of her image among them.

Her encounter with the supposed grooms makes her realise that they are not worthy enough to marry her. The first groom is an old man, the second one is a playboy, the third one is cruel and the fourth one is a crooked traitor. Instead, she finds Seo Do-yoon worthy of loving, therefore, she leaves her luxurious life behind forever to live with him. In him, she finds a man who protects her and loves her the way she is.

Awards

No information is available.

Interesting Facts about The Princess and the Matchmaker

1. ‘The Princess and the Matchmaker’ was a Korean box office hit and secured fourth place on the box office list.
2. The principal photography of the film took place in 2015.
3. ‘The Princess And The Matchmaker’ covered one million within one week of its release.

FAQs

1. Who is the director of the film?
   Hong Chang-pyo is the director of the film.
2. When was the movie ‘The Princess and the Matchmaker’ released?
   The movie was released on 28 February 2018.
3. Who are the male and female leads in the film?
   Lee Seung-gi and Shim Eun-Kyung are the male and female leads in the film.
4. What is the Instagram ID of Shim Eun-Kyung?
   The Instagram ID of Shim Eun-Kyung is @shimxe.k_.