Happy End (1999)

When a wife becomes the breadwinner of her family after her husband loses his job, adultery becomes part of her life.

Director:

Ji-woo Jung (as Ji Woo Chung)

Writer:

Ji-woo Jung (as Ji Woo Chung)

Stars:

Min-sik Choi, Do-yeon Jeon, Jin-mo Ju

4 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Min-sik Choi	...	Min Ki / Husband
Do-yeon Jeon	...	Bora / Wife (as Do Yeon Chun)
Jin-mo Ju	...	Il-beom / Bora's Lover
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mi-seon Hwang	...	Mi-yong / Neighbour
Hyeon Ju	...	Bookstore owner
Ju-hee Park
Yeon-su Yu	...	Mustache Detective

Storyline

Choi Bora is a successful career woman who becomes involved with her ex-lover, Kim Il-beom. Her home life is a snore: she's mother to an infant child and her husband, Seo Min-ki has lost his job, leaving her as the family's sole breadwinner. It's unclear if she is with Il-beom just for the sex or for the passion, both of which Min-ki seems incapable of giving. But it seems the jobless Min-ki hasn't been just wandering around parks and reading romance novels as first thought; he knows something is going on, and he's collecting evidence. She is unable to stop going back to Il-beom even though she seems physically and emotionally damaged by their continued affair. Il-beom has realized that he is hooked on her, and is very aware of his jealously-driven actions toward her and her family. Without each other, they have no passion in their lives, and so they must keep going back to each other.

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Plot Keywords:

male full rear nudity | infidelity | house husband | cheating wife | bare breasts | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Connections

References A Clockwork Orange (1971)

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Soundtracks

These Arms of Mine
Written and performed by Otis Redding
Published by Universal Music
Courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp.

User Reviews

Cruel

This film has all the ingredients to be miysogynistic and that's one of the possible readings. And it's quite legitimate. But, in fact, it seems to be more about mysoginy and the consequence of misogynistic behaviour and its consequences. Not advocating them. Nobody gets what deserves in this one and there are more victims (but one of them is being that absolutely and more than others). But what seems to be some morale here is that after the act there's just no way back. Either you get your life broken or, even worse, you don't get even that. I watch a lot of Asian films latelly and most of them look like statements about gender antagonisms. And mostly, their outcome on the end is unpopular and brave. And out there for everyone to see what it looks like when you don't paint them in unrealistic colors. As it should be. This film has a dreadful conclusion but it must be seen for what it is. That's why it's good ...

Details

Official Sites:

GAGA Communications [Japan]

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Release Date:

11 December 1999 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

Happy End

Company Credits

Production Co:

CJ Entertainment, Myung Film Company Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1