After Geumja serves her 13 year sentence for the kidnapping and murder of a young boy, she is released into the world with a goal. As Lady Vengeance, a kinder Korean Lady MacBeth with pink eyeliner, she tracks down the man really responsible for the boys’ murder with the help of the daughter she reunites with and some past inmate friends of hers.
Thank god for this movie. This seems like an accurate portrayal of women in the sense that they are sympathetic characters, yet incredibly flawed. The female prisoners all have different personalities, different stories to tell, different desires, and different weaknesses. These women have a naughty side- they bully each other, need sex, and lie to get what they want. The women are condemned for holding up banks or for murdering cheating husbands. And the most shocking part of all is the forced lesbian interaction with the obese prisoner. Apparently, male prisoners are the not the only ones that have sexual needs and are not opposed to taking it from another. Although if you would like to read more into this, we could say that her need to dominate and hurt another woman is a reflection of her hatred for the woman her husband cheated on her with, but I digress…
Despite these wicked tales, the women are still sympathetic and relatable. Lady Vengeance is so damaged she cuts off her own fingers to ask for forgiveness from the parents of the boy she helped kill…bleeding all over their floor in the process. A fellow prisoner describes dying of heartbreak after being separated from her love, but she is really suffering from kidney failure.
“Too kind hearted” was a term repeatedly used to describe the women and I agree that it is aggravating to hear myself. Even after Geumja is convicted of murder, she is still considered “kind”. This is insulting to women and trivializes their strength an emotions. There are also some religious undertones in that she is perceived as the devil in god’s clothes and vice versa. While in prison, she “found God”, gave public speeches, and helped the other prisoners. Once released, she is an angel of mercy in the devil’s clothes and tells her priest to go fuck himself.
The imagery is stunning and scenes range from a man’s head on a dog’s body in a box in the snow, to the tattoos with blood on powered skin, to clouds forming the message “You have no mother” to a young foster child. The cinematography was done by Jeong-hun Jeong (THREE…EXTREMES, OLD BOY) and also features a haunting baroque-themed score. Released by Tartan Video in 2006, it clocks in at 112 minutes with no cuts. It should be mentioned that there are 2 versions of the film- this standard version and the “Fade to Black and White” version. The other version starts in full color, then gradually grows dark until the film ends in only Black & White.
I would like to talk about the ending now. (Spoiler Alert) The child killings were a bit difficult to watch and made me tear up as the parents are screaming. This was not graphic of course, but I didn’t like to see a crying blindfolded child with a noose on. And I found it rather interesting that whether to murder the child killer or not was debated at length by the parents. Some of them sympathized with him, wanted to remain lawful, or didn’t want to do the dirty work. I liked that this was added in because this is similar to how society debates how to punish predators.
Why the film means so much to me is not the revenge scheme or that the story was centered on a woman. I was amazed with the depiction of loneliness. When the parents are rounded up, they come from different backgrounds. These are people that never would have socialized under different circumstances. And yet they are brought together by something so horrific, they are perversely bonded for life after participating in the murder.
A young woman leans over and rambles on excitedly to a rich woman about how she could notafford the ransom money, so she had to sell her house. The rich woman replies, “We all have our horror stories” and explains that her daughter-in-law killed herself and her son moved away. It is true that they all have horror stories and I think the parents realizing this helps them to cope. Once a parent had found out their child is gone, they are changed forever. They are suddenly the parent that lost a child and people will look at them differently for that. Even birthing another would not fill that void. But for the parents to find out that they are not alone in this and there are others that know this type of pain is a comfort to them. This young woman would not be able to tell just any stranger that she sold her house to pay for ransom on a child that was never returned. No one else would understand that or know how to respond. Ultimately, the vengeance did not solve their problems, but it released the parent’s guilt, erased some confusion, and eased the pain.
Everyone in the world has the desire to connect with another human being. I think that is something we all strive for above all else. And how this is depicted in the film and the satisfaction gained from having met just one other person that shares their emotions without even saying the words is beautiful. So beautiful in fact, that I am sure I couldn’t possibly do the description justice.
Then comes the sympathy for Lady Vengeance. When she returns home, she gives her daughter the white tofu cake to keep her pure and apologizes 3 times. Her daughter forgives her and asks her to eat some cake too. The cake is meant to symbolize someone’s purity and Lady Vengeance had thought for a long while that she wasn’t worthy of this. The truth was that her daughter had accepted her the whole time. The only one she really needed forgiveness from was herself. So she puts her entire face into the cake.
I think that when people suffer for an extended period of time, they forget what’s like to breath. So you struggle in a strong current drowning, then suddenly you break free. And you race to the surface quickly and when you finally break that barrier, you gasp for air. Or you stick your face in a cake.
This is known as the third installment of the vengeance trilogy (although they were never meant to be a trilogy and are unrelated except on the theme of vengeance). I think this is a great way to end Chan-Wook’s philosophical debate on revenge. OLD BOY was a good time, but his character was never redeemed. In fact, Dae-su Oh’s conclusion is pretty much that he is forever scarred and has accepted this, further cementing his sick fate. But Lady Vengeance struggles more and breaks from her confined mental cell she lived in for so long. She has a chance at fixing things and helping those around her. So the films have told different tales of vengeance with the characters taking different paths. LADY VEGEANCE is the most satisfying of the bunch as it’s ending is, above all else, hopeful.
DVD Extras: English/ Spanish Subtitles, Director Interview, Commentary with Dir. Wok, Richard Pena, second Commentary with Dir. Wok, DP, Art Director, and 10 Tartan Asia Extreme trailers.
Favorite Quote: “So the kidnapper kidnapped a kidnappers kid. Isn’t that funny?”
Bottom Line: A great achievement for Chan-Wook. A must see film and a great meditation on the effects of revenge.
Rating: 10/10
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