Chunhyangdyun (2000)

Director:

Kwon-taek Im

Writers:

Sang-hyun Cho (story)
Hye-yun Kang (writer)

Release Date:

29 January 2000 (South Korea)

Genre:

Drama | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

Her spirit became inspiration. Her name became legend.

Plot:

Mongryong marries the beautiful Chunhyang without telling his father, the Governor of Namwon. When his father is transferred to Seoul...

Awards:

4 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Hyo-jeong Lee	...	Chunhyang Sung
Seung-woo Cho	...	Mongryong Lee
Sung-nyu Kim	...	Wolmae
Hak-young Kim	...	Pangja
Jung-hun Lee	...	Gov. Byun Hakdo
Ji-youn Choi	...	Gov. Lee
Hae-eun Lee	...	Hyangdan (as Hae-Eun Lee)
Kyung-yeun Hong	...	Kisaeng Leader
Sang-hyun Cho	...	Pansori Singer
Myung-hwan Kim	...	Pansori Drummer
Hae-ryong Lee	...	Lord of Soonchun
Jun-hwam Gok	...	Lord of Okgwa
Keun-mo Yoon	...	Lord of Goksung
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Taell Bae
Bong Chotae
Tae-won Gan
Duk-Seoung Ha
Oh Jin	...	Representative of parliamentary Jun
Suk-koo Lee
Kyoung-jin Moon
Jae-hyung Park
Young-tak Song
Chongll Yoon	...	Old farmer

Also Known As:

Chunhyang (USA) (DVD box title)
Chunhyangdyeon (South Korea) (alternative transliteration)

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexuality.

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Japan:PG-12 | Australia:R | Singapore:M18 | Argentina:13 | France:U | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:12 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | USA:R

Company:

CJ Entertainment

Trivia:

A "pansori" (on which this movie is based) was a four to six-hour long musical poem performed by a singer and a drummer.

Quotes:

Mongyong Lee: "Like the sun and the moon, my love will never change."

Movie Connections:

Version of Seong Chunhyang (1987)

the first chunhyang with three meanings.

First, this movie is the first 'Chunhyang' that is exhibited to Western movie fan even though so many 'Chunhyang's has been produced in Korea.

Second, this movie is the first 'Chunhyang' that emphasizes Mongryong rather that Chunhyang. Usually in many a love story a beautiful heroine is likely to be an element of deploying story and get mass concern. After seeing love story, movie fans remember the beauty of heroine like Olivia Hussey in "Romeo and Juliet" or Vivian Leigh in "Gone with the Wind." But, in this film you may see much more Close Ups of Mongryong than Chunhyang, and you may not remember the beauty of Hyo-Jeong Lee. In my opinion, Hyo-Jeong Lee may be one of two actresses who fail to get stardom despite her title role of Chunhyang in the history of Korean Cinema - the other one was Na-Seong Lee who played Chunhyang about fifteen years ago. Usually contemporary stars or rising stars played Chunhyang - for example, legendary Eun-Hee Choi(1961) and Mi-Hee Jang(1976).

And it is related with third factor, which is considered very important by Western critics. This film is the first Chunhyang which is combined with 'pansori,' Korean epic which is played by one singer and one drummer. The relation of Director Im Kwon-Taek's 'Chunhyang' and pansori is the same as Francis Ford Coppola's 'Dracula' and Bram Stoker's original.

One thing more, the marriage of Chunhyang, the daughter of ex-courtesan, and Mongryong, the son of high bureaucrat, can be interpreted equality between ruling class and ruled class. But this interpretation is only as available as the interpretation that the marriage of Cinderella and a Prince means equality between classes in Western culture.