Lady Vengeance (2005)

After being wrongfully imprisoned for thirteen years and having her child taken away from her, a woman seeks revenge through increasingly brutal means.

Director:

Chan-wook Park (as Park Chan Wook)

Writers:

Seo-kyeong Jeong (as Seo-gyeong Jeong), Chan-wook Park

Stars:

Nam-mi Kang, Jeong-nam Choi, Hye-Sook Go

12 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nam-mi Kang	...	Choir Member 1
Jeong-nam Choi	...	Choir Member 2
Hye-Sook Go	...	Choir Member 3
Bok-hwa Baek	...	Choir Member 4
Cheol Hong	...	Choir Member 5
Ho-soo Joo	...	Choir Member 6 (as Joo Seong-wan)
In-bo Jang	...	Choir Member 7 (as Jang Min)
Kim Byeong-Ok	...	Preacher
Lee Yeong-ae	...	Geum-ja Lee
Seong-Yoon Choi	...	Won-mo's Friend
Il-woo Nam	...	Detective Choi
Soon-bae Cha	...	Reporter
Ik-tae Kim	...	Won-mo's Father
Yeong-mi Lee	...	Won-mo's Mother
Jin-gu Kim	...	Sun-sook Go

Storyline

Wrongfully accused of child abduction and murder, the angelic-faced single mother, Lee Geum-ja, is released from prison after thirteen long years. Hell-bent on taking her sweet revenge on the man behind the hideous crime, Lee hatches an infallible plan of retribution with the help of her cellmates; however, planning is easier than doing. Now--as Lee Geum-ja struggles to make amends with the daughter she was forced to give up--at the same time, she finds herself torn between her insatiable thirst for vengeance and the desperate need for atonement. Can she have both?

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Plot Keywords:

revenge | murder | vengeance | christian | cake | 

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Taglines:

Coming For You

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violent content - some involving children, and some sexuality

Did You Know?

Trivia

The snow at the ending is not real. They brought two trucks of salt, scattered it all over the street and finally adjusted the scene using computer graphics.

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Goofs

[All goofs for this title are spoilers.]

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Quotes

Geum-ja Lee: Listen carefully. Everyone make mistakes. But if you committed a sin, you have to make an atonement for that sin. Atonement, do you know what that means? Big Atonement for big sins. Small Atonement for small sins.

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Alternate Versions

There are two different versions of the film. One is full color. The other, called "Fade to Black Version", shifts from color to B&W over the course of the movie. Like Sin City, there are color highlighted, even in the B&W scenes. The second version is what the director intended, but he was not able to complete it properly until the Korean DVD (which includes both versions).

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Connections

Referenced in To kokkino domatio: I ekdikisi mias kyrias (2006)

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Soundtracks

Frère Jacques
French Traditional

User Reviews

standing ovation

i usually don't enjoy movies that contain gore, suspense, and violence. still, sympathy for lady vengeance was undoubtedly, a movie worth watching. even for those who actively dislike movies in this certain genre, sympathy for lady vengeance is an absolute must. out of the trilogy, this one was the one i enjoyed most. there was nothing overly-excessive and/or gratuitous (which i honestly found oldboy and sympathy for mr vengeance had a bit of), and it definitely cannot be considered a brain-candy film. with an extremely intelligent and interesting plot, and visually stunning cinematography, it was a spectacular piece of art, from the start to the finish, and had me thinking about it and talking about it for days afterward.

Details

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean English Japanese

Release Date:

29 July 2005 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

Lady Vengeance

Filming Locations:

Seoul, South Korea

Box Office

Budget:

KRW4,200,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,850, 30 April 2006

Gross USA:

$211,667

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$23,834,149

Company Credits

Production Co:

CJ Entertainment, CJ Capital Investment, Centurion Investment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min 112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1