The film is based on the novel City of Thorns by British writer Sarah Waters. The story of the Japanese colonial rule in Korea in 1930 tells the story of three changing narratives from the maid to the lady to the perspective of the other, making the fate of the characters confusing. After that, he was also shortlisted for the Palme d'Or in the main competition unit of the 69th Cannes International Film Festival.
Part I:
On a rainy day, Nam Sook-hee was going to a Japanese family with a large bag and a small bag to work as a servant, and the car took Nam Sook-hee from day to night, and just when she thought it was finally here, the driver told her that it was estimated that we would have to drive a few more mountains to get there. When it finally arrived, there was an old man waiting at the door, she told Nam Sook-hee a lot of the rules of this mansion, and said that the owner of this is rich and powerful and loves to read, and the emphasis is also emphasized, do not steal things, steal things and leave, and then take Nam Sook-hee to her sleeping place. In the middle of the night, a scream of the young lady frightened Nan Shuxi to fall to the ground, Nan Shuxi heard the miss shouting and could only run in to comfort her, it turned out that the young lady had a nightmare, because her uncle's wife hanged herself under the most beautiful tree in the yard, and then Nan Shuxi, like a baby, fed some sake to the young lady and sang a nursery rhyme to her, and the young lady really fell asleep.
Nan Shuxi was born in a family of thieves, under the influence of the family environment, she can distinguish the truth and falsity of money at the age of five, and she can also engrave seals, and their family has adopted many orphans. But how did the thief go and make a maid for the young lady? It turned out that there was a fake earl who went to Nam Sook-hee's house and said to them: There is a big business, I hope to cooperate with you, there is a translator in Korea who has defected to Japan, and has made great contributions to the Japanese occupation of Korea, and has now changed to Japanese nationality, very rich, she is our goal, I need you to send someone to be his maid, I said that the earl said that people love flowers and flowers, try to make that lady fall in love with me, and when we go to Japan, we will send her to a psychiatric hospital, and the property is mine. After the fact, give you fifty thousand and all the clothes of the lady. Nan Shuxi said to him very confidently: In addition to what you said, I will add another 100,000.
Nam Sook-hee uses a false name in Miss's house as Yuzhu, because she can serve Miss when she first arrives, which makes the other servants in the house look at her very unhappy, and everyone targets her, such as: throwing her shoes outside on a rainy day, and her shoes are wet and she can only go barefoot to see Miss. She made a simple self-introduction in front of the young lady and handed in the introduction letter, the young lady was urged by her uncle to read every day, and now when she saw the words, she was annoyed, and she said: You read it to me. But Yuzhu couldn't read, and after Yuzhu made it up, she found that she couldn't make it up, and then she said honestly to the young lady: I can't read. The young lady saw that Yuzhu even told her that she was illiterate, and said: If you can't read, you can't read, I will teach you, as long as you don't lie to me. The young lady took out the picture of her mother and asked Yuzhu: Do you see if I look good or my mother is better looking, everyone says that I am not as good looking as my mother, you say who is better looking. Yuzhu said: The count said that the young lady's face was the face that could not help but think of it every night before going to bed.
The young lady saw that Yuzhu's shoes were missing, so she took Yuzhu to choose a pair of her own shoes. The young lady said: I am going to study, remember to call me at noon. As soon as the young lady left, Yuzhu looked through the room, and the time was fast to noon, and Yuzhu pushed open the door where the young lady was reading. When the count wanted to come, Yuzhu asked the young lady to take a bath quickly, and gave her a lollipop, which was a sweet thing to take a bath. At this time, the young lady covered her face and said to Yuzhu: She always bites the flesh, as if she has a fang. Yuzhu then brought a grinding stone for the young lady to help the young lady grind her teeth, and the atmosphere between the two gradually became wrong.
The count came, and when he saw the young lady he said, I will make you like to draw, and I believe that I will be a good teacher. When passing by Yuzhu, he also reminded Yuzhu not to forget his duty. When he returned to his room, he asked the servant to call the jade bead over, and discussed the implementation of the plan, and when he said that he was ripe, he would leave him alone with the young lady. Yuzhu went to find Miss with the sapphire sent by the Earl, but Miss and Yuzhu played role-playing interchanges. Later, the count began to teach the young lady to draw, and said greasy love words, and the jade beads on the side were disgusted. The count said to the jade bead: "Ripe." Yuzhu knew that she had to go according to the plan, so she took the young lady for a walk, and while walking the jade pearl, she said in the young lady's ear that the count's coming felt that you were much happier. Miss confided in Yuzhu, saying that her mother was dying in childbirth, sometimes it felt like she killed her mother, looking at the simple miss, Yuzhu couldn't bear to comfort her, don't think so, if your mother has the opportunity to talk to you, she must say: It is my luck to be able to give birth to you and leave, I don't regret it.
Yuzhu gave the count the opportunity for him to be alone with the young lady, watching the count move his hands and feet on the young lady, and watching the count and the young lady kiss passionately in the woods, Yuzhu began to feel unhappy. At night, when sleeping, the young lady rang the bell and called Yuzhu to let Yuzhu sleep with her, and the young lady said that the count proposed to me, what do you say the man is thinking? Yuzhu said, I teach you...
The next day, the count began to use his hands and feet again while teaching the young lady to draw, but Yuzhu ignored the plan and had to be by the side. The earl was so angry that he called Out Jade Pearl and reminded her of their plan, but Jade Pearl said, I know, next time will not be. In the evening, Yuzhu had been praising the Earl's goodness in the young lady's ear, but the young lady beat her angrily and pushed her out of her door.
The plan was carried out as promised, and the young lady's uncle was going out for a week, and Yuzhu eloped with the young lady and the count. After they came to Japan, the count and the lady had a wedding. The next day, the young lady and Yuzhu mentioned that they wanted to play role-playing. A week later, the count brought a large bag of money to Yuzhu and brought two doctors over, and Yuzhu said to the doctor: It is best to keep the young lady in a place where there are few people, so that no one can hurt her. After that, the three of them took the car to the mental hospital, and Yuzhu thought that this was the destination of the young lady in the future, so she hugged her. Unexpectedly, both the count and the young lady said that Yuzhu was the countess.
Part II:
The young lady was of noble birth, but she was also beaten as a child, and more strictly, even with an iron ball. When reading, the aunt and herself had a little laugh, the uncle ravaged them, the young lady was arrogant, and when she was trampled by her uncle, she went to slap the servant's face, and even the old man Sasaki mentioned at the beginning of the article was beaten by the young lady, and when she slapped her, Sasaki went to talk to the uncle of the young lady, of course, the young lady was beaten by the uncle, and said: If you don't obey me again, I will send you to the mental hospital, and I heard that the people there are tied with iron chains.
The uncle often let his aunt read pornographic books in front of everyone, and if he didn't read well, he would be beaten. The aunt could not stand it and chose to hang herself under a tree. The young lady also grew up in this kind of life, and when she grew up, she began to take over the position of her aunt and read pornographic books in front of everyone, and the count was the young lady she knew under this kind of recitation. In the study, the count and the lady's uncle were discussing the preparation of imitations of ancient books, which would be auctioned, and other secrets. And all this was secretly looked at by the young lady.
Uncle invited the count to dinner, halfway when the uncle went to answer the phone, the count invited the lady to the woods, the miss did not go, the count went directly to the miss, he said to the miss that he was Korean, but lived in Japan for decades, I spent three years studying and copying is to come to you, originally I wanted to seduce you and then plot to hide your property and then kill you, but I was deeply attracted to you. The young lady opened the door, and the count said to her: I will save you out, and you will give me money, how about it? The young lady said that if we were caught, our legs would be broken and we would be locked up in the basement. But the count said, it doesn't matter, I have a high concentration of opium, three drops can make people sleep for three days, a bottle to drink, people will die immediately, you and I will give it to you. The young lady thought for a moment and agreed, and he said to the count: You go find an unintelligent woman to be my maid, and then we conspire to send her to a mental hospital disguised as me, and my present maid you go to seduce her, and then I will find a reason to drive her away.
Part III:
When the young lady and the count sent the jade bead to the mental hospital, the count said to the young lady that we are really married, and in a few days, the hospital will hear the news of the death of the jade bead, and only the death of the jade bead can make us feel the most at ease. Meanwhile in the hospital, Yuzhu was rescued by her own companions.
The plot has been reversed again, the miss really has a good feeling for Yuzhu, she told Yuzhu and the count's plan, Yuzhu also told the miss about herself and the count's plan, Yuzhu actually liked the miss, since both of them knew the truth, they began their own plans, began to calculate. Finally the count drank the high concentration of opium he had given to the young lady, passed out, and the young lady took the count's money and jade beads and flew away.
The count was sent to the young lady's uncle, and by the way brought a letter saying that the count was a fake, that he was only the son of a slave in Jeju, and that he was grateful to the false count for bringing me the jade beads. After reading the letter, the uncle was angry and wanted to kill the count, but in the end the count died with the uncle of the young lady.
The whole film shows the charm of women to the extreme, and also vividly portrays the inner twists and turns of each character, and also shows the careful love to the extreme. Not only them, but everyone should go to the far side of their own hopes, and everyone should happily get along with her beloved, not the so-called worldly, the so-called bondage. Everyone should run to the person they like. Everyone should have their own Shuji, their own Xiuzi, their own two-way rush, their own struggle against the outside.
"Miss" The film, regardless of the lines or pictures, is full of erotic meaning, and the two bed scenes of Miss Xiuzi and the maid Nam Sook-hee have become the theme of our discussion. Although this film looks like a capital "dirty" at first glance, it is not difficult to find that there are many erotic hints passing through the film, behind which there are rich artistic qualities. It can be said that under the light use of Park Chan-wook, these works of art rich in deep meaning are finally connected to form a destructive "beauty".