''The King and the Clown'' (, lit. ''The King's Man'') is a

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n historical drama film, starring

Kam Woo-sung Kam Woo-sung (born October 1, 1970) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his portrayal of a court jester serving a despotic king in the hit period film '' The King and the Clown''. Career Kam Woo-sung majored in Oriental painting at th ...

, Lee Joon-gi, and Jung Jin-young. It was adapted from the 2000 stage play, ''Yi'' ("You") about

Yeonsangun of Joseon Yeonsangun of Joseon or Prince Yeonsan of Joseon (23 November 1476 – 20 November 1506), personal name Yi Yung ( Korean: 이융; Hanja: 李㦕), was the tenth ruler of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. Often considered the worst tyrant in Joseon's ...

, a

Joseon dynasty Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and ...

king and a court clown who mocks him. It was released on 29 December 2005, runs for 119 minutes; and distributed domestically by Cinema Service and internationally by

CJ Entertainment CJ Entertainment ( Hangul: CJ 엔터테인먼트) is a South Korean film production and distribution company under CJ ENM. The company operates as a film production company, film publishing house, investment and exhibition. History During early ...

. The movie is referred to by various titles. It is sometimes known as ''The King's Man'' (the literal English translation of the Korean title). In Chinese, the title is "王的男人" or "王和小丑", and in Japanese, it is known as "王の男". It is also known as ''The Royal Jester'' in English, as the movie's English translator found it more fitting than the original title. The film was chosen as South Korea's official submission for the 2006

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

. With over 12.3 million tickets sold, it was the most watched movie of South Korea of the year, as well the tenth highest-grossing film in South Korea.

Plot

Set in the late 15th century during the reign of King Yeonsan, two male street clowns and tightrope walkers, Jangsaeng (

) and Gong-gil ( Lee Joon-gi), are part of an entertainer troupe. The effeminate and beautiful Gong-gil specializes in female roles ; their manager prostitutes him to rich customers, and Jangsaeng is sickened by this practice. After Gong-gil kills the manager in defense of Jangsaeng, the pair flee to Seoul, where they form a new group with three other street performers. Together the group comes up with a skit mocking some members of the

royal court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word "court" may also be appl ...

, including the king and his new

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

Jang Nok-su. Though they make a lot of money from the performance, they are eventually arrested for treason and flogged severely. Jangsaeng makes a deal with Choseon, one of the king's consultants, either to make the king laugh at their skit or to be executed. They perform their skit for the king, but the three minor performers are too terrified to perform well. Gong-gil and Jangsaeng barely save themselves with one last joke at the king, who laughs and then makes them all a part of his court. When the king wants to see more performances, the clowns decide to make flyers asking for other minstrels to audition to join the group. The other clowns notice that Jangsaeng and Gong-gil have identical handwriting, as Jangsaeng learned to write by watching Gong-gil. The corruption within the court is revealed when the clowns put on a performance ridiculing the council members by implying that they receive expensive gifts for favours. The king is delighted by the skit, but upon seeing that the council members are not amused, turns on them and asks them one by one if they are guilty of what the clowns are mocking them for. He banishes a corrupt minister and orders that his fingers be cut off and displayed to all the other council members as a warning. Over time, the king falls for Gong-gil, whom he calls to his private chambers often to perform finger puppet shows. Jangsaeng becomes jealous of this relationship and suggests that they leave, but Gong-gil does not immediately agree. Meanwhile, the king becomes more and more unstable. He makes the clowns perform a skit depicting how his

mother ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ge ...

(played by Gong-gil), the favorite concubine of the Seongjong of Joseon, former king, was forced to take poison after being betrayed by other jealous concubines. The king then slaughters these concubines at the end of the play, and the

Queen Mother A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also used to describe a number of ...

dies from shock. Jangsaeng then asks Gong-gil to leave with him and the gang once more before the king kills them too during one of his homicidal fits. Gong-gil, who initially sympathized with the king, begs the tyrant to give him his freedom but the king refuses. The king's main concubine, Jang Noksu, becomes increasingly enraged by the attention the king has been lavishing on Gong-gil. The council members try to have him killed during a hunting trip, resulting in the death of one of the members of the street performing team. Days after the hunting trip, the king forcibly kisses Gong-gil and his violence against the members of his own court escalates, especially at the mention of his father who he feels still rules over the kingdom even after his death. This leads the performing troupe to finally decide to leave the palace, because the king has become too unpredictable, but Gong-gil begs Jangsaeng not to leave him alone as he is not allowed to leave the palace. Then, Jang Noksu tries to have Gong-gil jailed by having flyers run in Gong-gil's handwriting insulting the king severely. Jangsaeng takes the blame for the crime for which Gong-gil has been falsely accused, as their handwriting is the same, and is set to be beheaded the next morning. Choseon secretly releases Jangsaeng, however, telling him that he should forget Gong-gil and leave the palace. But Jangsaeng ignores the advice and returns to walk on his tightrope across palace rooftops, this time openly and loudly mocking the king. The king shoots arrows at him while Gong-gil tries in vain to stop him. Jangsaeng falls and is caught, and has his eyes seared with burning iron as punishment before being thrown into prison again. Gong-gil attempts suicide, but his life is saved by the palace doctors : the king then loses interest in him and goes back to his consort. The king has Jangsaeng walk his tightrope blind. As Jangsaeng tells the story of his and Gong-gil's trials and tribulations while balancing on the rope, Gong-gil runs out to join him. Gong-gil asks Jangsaeng what he would like to return as in his next life and Jangsaeng replies that he would still choose to be a clown. Gong-gil answers that he too would return as nothing else but a clown. At the very end there is a popular uprising resulting in an attack on the palace, and as people storm the court, Jangsaeng and Gong-gil jump up from the rope together, and Jangsaeng tosses away his fan. The last scene is a happy one where Jangsaeng and Gong-gil appear to be reunited with their clowning troupe, including the friend who died earlier during the hunting incident. The whole company jokes, sings and dances, as they all walk away cheerfully into the distance.

Cast

as Jang-saeng * Lee Joon-gi as Gong-gil * Jung Jin-young as King Yeonsan * Kang Sung-yeon as Jang Nok-su *Jang Hang-seon as Cheo-sun * Yoo Hae-jin as Yuk-gab *Jeong Seok-yong as Chil-duk *Lee Seung-hun as Pal-bok

Background

The film was adapted from the Korean stage play ''Yi'', written by Kim Tae-woong, centered around Gong-gil, the feminine actor. It was based on a small passage from the

Annals of the Joseon Dynasty The ''Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty'' (also known as the ''Annals of the Joseon Dynasty'' or the ''True Record of the Joseon Dynasty''; ko, 조선왕조실록 and ) are the annual records of Joseon, the last royal house to rule K ...

that briefly mentions the king's favorite clown, Gong-gil, whereas Jang-saeng is a fictional character. In the

Joseon Dynasty Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and ...

, "Yi" was what the king called his beloved subjects. Since first staged in 2000, the play has won numerous awards, including the best stage play of the year, best new actor (for Oh Man-seok) and top 3 best plays of the year by the National Theater Association of Korea, and best stage play for 2001 by the Dong-A Art Foundation.

Original soundtrack

# "가려진" - "Veiled" by Jang Jae-hyeong (Jang-seng's theme) # "프롤로그 - 먼길" - "Prologue - Long Roads" # "각시탈" - "Gak-shi Tal (Mask of a Woman)" # "돌아올 수 없는" - "Cannot Return" # "너 거기 있니? 나 여기 있어." - "Are you over there? I am over here." # "세상속으로" - "Into the World" # "위험한 제의 하나" - "Dangerous Suggestion Number One" # "행복한 광대들" - "The Happy Clowns" # "내가 왕이 맞느냐" - "Am I the King or not" # "위험한 제의 둘" - "Dangerous Suggestion Number Two" # "꿈꾸는 광대들" - "The Dreaming Clowns" # "수청" - "Serve Maiden" # "인형놀이" - "Playing with Dolls" # "연정" - "Romantic Emotions" # "그림자놀이" - "Playing with Shadows" # "피적삼의 울음소리" - "The Cry of Rags" # "광대사냥" - "Clown Hunt" # "광대의 죽음" - "Death of a Clown" # "어서 쏴" - "Shoot Now" # "질투" - "Envy" # "장생의 분노" - "The Fury of Jang-Seng" # "내가 썼소" - "I wrote it." # "애원" - "Plea" # "장생의 외침" - "The Yell of Jang-Seng" # "눈먼장생" - "Jang-Seng the Blind" # "자궁속으로" - "Into the Womb" # "반정의 북소리" - "Ban-Jeong's Sounds of Drumming" # "반허공" - "Mid-air" # "에필로그 - 돌아오는 길" - "Epilogue - The Homeward Road" # "반허공" Guitar Version - "Mid-air" Guitar Version

Reception

, the film sold a total of 12.3 million tickets, including 3,659,525 in Seoul, in its four months of screening, which ended on 18 April 2006. It ranked first and grossed in its first week of release and grossed a total of after 12 weeks of screening. Its worldwide grossed is . For a low-budget film costing only , it surpassed the 10 million viewer mark on 2 February, received good reviews from both critics and audiences. This led to its commercial success, which is remarkable, considering its focus on traditional arts with

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

themes. The success was also surprising given the lack of a big budget and high-profile top-billing actors and director compared to other films such as '' Taegukgi: Brotherhood of War'' and ''

Silmido Silmido (Silmi Island) is an uninhabited island in the Yellow Sea, off the west coast of South Korea. It has an area of about 0.25 km2. It lies within the borders of Incheon metropolitan city, and is about 5 kilometres southwest of Inche ...

'', who have both surpassed 10 million viewers. The film also notably propelled the then unknown Lee Joon-gi into Asia-wide stardom. This film was chosen by the Korea Film Council-appointed committee as South Korea's submission for the 2006

. It was selected over two other films: '' The Host'' and ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

'' for its overall aesthetic and commercial quality. Nafees Ahmed of High On Films called the film 'a Shakespearean tragedy' and wrote, "It's a well written and directed historical drama that weaves the emotional nuances of the king and two clowns into the layered drama about love, jealousy, madness and compassion."

International release

* Taiwan: May 7, 2006 *

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

: June 22, 2006 *

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

: September 7, 2006 (Vancouver/Toronto Film Festival) * Japan: October 21, 2006 (Tokyo Film Festival) / December 9, 2006 (theatrical release) * Shanghai: October 28, 2006 *

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

: October 29, 2006 (London Film Festival) *

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

: November 14, 2006 (Cape Town Film Festival) *

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

: December 1, 2006 (Film Festival) *

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

: January 3, 2007 (Los Angeles) *

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

: March 30, 2007 (Florence Film Festival) *

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

: April 1, 2007 (Deauville Film Festival) / 23 January 2008 (theatrical release)

Awards and nominations

; 2006

Baeksang Arts Awards The Baeksang Arts Awards (), also known as the Paeksang Arts Awards, are awards for excellence in film, television and theatre in South Korea. The awards were first introduced in 1965 by Chang Key-young, the founder of the Hankook Ilbo newspap ...

* Grand Prize for Film * Best New Actor - Lee Joon-gi * Nomination - Best Film * Nomination - Best Director - Lee Joon-ik * Nomination - Best Actor - Jung Jin-young * Nomination - Best Screenplay - Choi Seok-hwan ;2006 Chunsa Film Art Awards * Best Actor -

* Best Supporting Actor - Jang Hang-sun ; 2006

Grand Bell Awards The Grand Bell Awards (), also known as the Daejong Film Awards, is an awards ceremony presented annually by The Motion Pictures Association of Korea for excellence in film in South Korea. The Grand Bell Awards retains prestige as the oldest co ...

* Best Film * Best Director - Lee Joon-ik * Best Actor -

* Best Supporting Actor - Yoo Hae-jin * Best New Actor - Lee Joon-gi * Best Screenplay - Choi Seok-hwan * Best Cinematography - Ji Kil-woong * Nomination - Best Supporting Actress - Kang Sung-yeon * Nomination - Best Editing - Kim Jae-bum, Kim Sang-bum * Nomination - Best Lighting - Han Gi-eop * Nomination - Best Art Direction - Kang Seung-yong * Nomination - Best Costume Design - Shim Hyun-sub * Nomination - Best Music - Lee Byung-woo * Nomination - Best Sound - Kim Tan-young, Choi Tae-young ; 2006

Blue Dragon Film Awards The Blue Dragon Film Awards () is an annual awards ceremony that is presented by '' Sports Chosun'' (a sister brand of the ''Chosun Ilbo'') for excellence in film in South Korea. The Blue Dragon Film Awards considers only blockbusters and popul ...

* Best Music - Lee Byung-woo * Nomination - Best Film * Nomination - Best Director - Lee Joon-ik * Nomination - Best Actor -

* Nomination - Best Supporting Actor - Yoo Hae-jin * Nomination - Best Supporting Actress - Kang Sung-yeon * Nomination - Best New Actor - Lee Joon-gi * Nomination - Best Lighting - Han Gi-eop * Nomination - Best Art Direction - Kang Seung-yong * Nomination - Technical Award - Kim Sang-bum, Kim Jae-bum (Editing) ;2006 Korean Film Awards * Best New Actor - Lee Joon-gi * Nomination - Best Film * Nomination - Best Director - Lee Joon-ik * Nomination - Best Supporting Actress - Kang Sung-yeon * Nomination - Best Art Direction - Kang Seung-yong ;2007

Deauville Asian Film Festival The Deauville Asian Film Festival (the Festival du film asiatique de Deauville) takes place annually in Deauville, France since 1999 and focuses on Asian cinema. A film competition was added to the festival in 2000 and a video competition in 2002. ...

* Jury Prize

References

External links

* * *
''King and the Clown'' fan site
{{DEFAULTSORT:King and the Clown, The 2005 films 2000s historical comedy-drama films South Korean historical comedy-drama films South Korean LGBT-related films Fictional kings Fictional clowns Films about clowns Films about politicians Films set in the 15th century Films set in the Joseon dynasty Films set in Seoul South Korean films based on plays Films directed by Lee Joon-ik Best Picture Grand Bell Award winners Cinema Service films CJ Entertainment films 2000s Korean-language films LGBT-related comedy-drama films Grand Prize Paeksang Arts Award (Film) winners 2000s South Korean films