The Scarlet Letter (2004)
"Juhong geulshi" (original title)

A detective, his 3 girls & a murder case. Complex emotional relationships and human nature's darker sides are explored in this captivating suspense drama about a cop whose lust for love threatens to get in the way of his professional life.

Director:

Hyuk Byun

Stars:

Suk-kyu Han, Eun-ju Lee, Hyeon-a Seong

Cast

Credited cast:
Suk-kyu Han	...	Ki-hoon
Eun-ju Lee	...	Ga-hee
Hyeon-a Seong	...	Kyeong-hie
Ji-won Uhm	...	Su-hyeon
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jin-geun Kim

Storyline

A detective, his 3 girls & a murder case. Complex emotional relationships and human nature's darker sides are explored in this captivating suspense drama about a cop whose lust for love threatens to get in the way of his professional life.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Release Date:

28 October 2004 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

The Scarlet Letter

Company Credits

Production Co:

LJ Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

'Eun-ju Lee (II)'s last film

User Reviews

Outstanding, Unique, Tragic, Thriller.

The Scarlet Letter is an excellent film for fans of unique cinema. Part erotic thriller, part murder mystery, part police procedure, part extreme cinema, but somehow masterfully pieced together into a single cohesive, disturbing, tragic, emotional and intellectually stimulating film experience.

The cinematography, sound, music, acting, direction and script are all first rate. Although special mention must go to Lee Eun-ju, who steals every scene in a breathtaking performance, which was tragically her last as she committed suicide shortly after completing this project. Obviously she was in some serious emotional pain in her personal life at the time of filming, which she has used to add a raw and real emotional depth to her character.

The storyline is deceptively simple, at first appearing to be a routine murder investigation plot, based on a fairly mundane murder, however as we get deeper into the film this plot takes a back seat to the real story which is a dissection of the investigating officer's (Han Suk-kyu)complicated personal life and his relationships with his wife and his girlfriend (Lee Eun-ju).

It is in the complexities of this love triangle that the films true power and force really take place as the characters try to manage their lives as they slowly unravel. This leads to a climax that is emotionally overpowering and disturbing, and totally unique.

This is very intelligent, artistic, mature, dark, thriller.