''Secret Sunshine'' () is a 2007 South Korean
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Lee Chang-dong. The screenplay based on the short fiction "The Story of a Bug" by
Lee Cheong-jun
Yi Cheong-jun (, 9 August 1939 - 31 July 2008) was a prominent South Korean novelist. Throughout his four decade-long career, Yi wrote more than 100 short stories and 13 novels.
Life
Yi Cheong-jun was born in 1939. He graduated with a degree ...
that focuses on a woman as she wrestles with the questions of grief, madness and faith. The Korean title
Miryang
Miryang (perhaps pronounced as Milbeol using Idu script), formerly also spelled as 推火郡 (probably pronounced as Milbeol or Miribeol using Idu script), Milbeol (密伐) and Milseong (密城), is a city in Gyeongsangnam-do Province, South Ko ...
(or Milyang) is named after the city that served as the film's setting and filming location, of which "Secret Sunshine" is the literal translation. For her performance in the film,
Jeon Do-yeon
Jeon Do-yeon (; born February 11, 1973) is a South Korean actress. She won Best Actress at the 60th Cannes Film Festival, making her the second Korean actress to win an acting award at a prestigious film festival, and Best Performance by an Ac ...
won the
Prix d'interprétation féminine (Best Actress) at the
2007 Cannes Film Festival
The 60th Cannes Film Festival ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. The President of the Jury was British director Stephen Frears. Twenty two films from twelve countries were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. The awards were announced on 26 May. ''4 M ...
. The film also won the award for Best Film at the
Asian Film Awards
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
and at the
Asia Pacific Screen Awards
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia. In order to realise UNESCO's goals of promoting and preserving the different cultures th ...
. The film sold 1,710,364 tickets nationwide in South Korea alone.
Plot
After the death of her husband from a traffic accident, Lee Shin-ae (
Jeon Do-yeon
Jeon Do-yeon (; born February 11, 1973) is a South Korean actress. She won Best Actress at the 60th Cannes Film Festival, making her the second Korean actress to win an acting award at a prestigious film festival, and Best Performance by an Ac ...
) and her only child Jun move to
Miryang
Miryang (perhaps pronounced as Milbeol using Idu script), formerly also spelled as 推火郡 (probably pronounced as Milbeol or Miribeol using Idu script), Milbeol (密伐) and Milseong (密城), is a city in Gyeongsangnam-do Province, South Ko ...
,
South Gyeongsang Province
South Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상남도, translit=Gyeongsangnam-do, ) is a province in the southeast of South Korea. The provincial capital is at Changwon. It is adjacent to the major metropolitan center and port of Busan. The UNESCO World ...
, her husband's hometown, to start life anew. While entering Miryang, Shin-ae's car breaks down. The local mechanic in Miryang Kim Jong-chan (
Song Kang-ho
Song Kang-ho (born January 17, 1967) is a South Korean actor. Song made his film debut in ''The Day a Pig Fell into the Well'' (1996), and came to national prominence with a series of critically acclaimed performances, including ''No. 3'' (1997) ...
) fixes her car and assists Shin-ae as she opens her piano school and attempts to purchase land to build a house on. Jong-chan claims he is only trying to be a Good Samaritan.
One afternoon, Shin-ae meets a middle-school girl (referred to as "the girl" from now onwards), whose father is Jun's daycare teacher. Just outside her home, Shin-ae is called by a pharmacist who tells her that the solution to her problems is belief in God. Shin-ae is skeptical, but nevertheless takes the pharmacist's scripture. At home, Shin-ae and Jun engage in a prank where Shin-ae pretends to be unable to find Jun.
Shin-ae's brother visits from Seoul, wondering why she has returned to Miryang considering that her husband cheated on her. Shin-ae denies this, but still hates her late husband for unspecified reasons. Before leaving, Shin-ae's brother tells Jong-chan to stop pursuing Shin-ae.
One night, Shin-ae returns home late after partying to discover that Jun is missing. She receives a phone call (implied to be from Jun's kidnapper) and draws all of the money from her bank account to pay as ransom. Appalled at the pitiful amount of money she paid, Shin-ae reveals that her claim to buying land was a lie to appear rich; she really had no more money.
Returning home, Shin-ae discovers the girl peering into her residence; the latter refuses to explain why and escapes. Later, police officers arrive to take her to a reservoir, where Jun was drowned. The kidnapper is swiftly captured, but Shin-ae doesn't seem to be vengeful and sheds no tears at Jun's funeral.
Feeling unwell one day, Shin-ae visits the pharmacist, who convinces her to join their faith, even though Shin-ae doesn't understand why God would let an innocent child like Jun die. Followed around by Jong-chan, Shin-ae soon becomes a believer and claims to have found inner peace; even Jong-chan starts going to church.
At home one day, Shin-ae hears noises in her bathroom and opens the door, crying out Jun's name, but the bathroom user is a little boy from Jun's daycare. Dropping off the other daycare children, Shin-ae witnesses the girl being bullied but doesn't intervene.
Her church friends throw her a birthday party, during which she states that she will visit the kidnapper, now in prison, to forgive him. Jong-chan doesn't understand why Shin-ae needs to visit him to forgive him, but nevertheless accompanies her. Surprisingly, the kidnapper (turning out to be Jun's daycare teacher) reveals that he found God as well and that God has absolved him of his sins. Shin-ae doesn't understand how God can absolve him of his sins before she has forgiven him and felt true peace.
One day, Shin-ae steals a CD of a song called "Lies" from a store and blasts it on a loudspeaker where a group has gathered to thank God. Later that night, she receives a phone call, which she claims to Jong-chan to have been from the kidnapper; he dismisses the idea but tells her to calm down and arranges a dinner date for the next day. However, Shin-ae walks into the pharmacy and seduces the pharmacist's husband, but he is unable to perform, and she misses the date. Jong-chan rejects her proposal for sex and offers to drive her home, but she physically refuses. On the way home, she passes by a vigil held for her by the pharmacist couple; it is interrupted when a rock is hurled at a window. At home, Shin-ae slashes her wrists.
On the day she is discharged from the hospital, Jong-chan takes her to a salon, where the girl now works, to do her hair. She reveals that she went into juvenile detention for falling in with the wrong crowd and quit school. In the middle of her cut, Shin-ae leaves the salon. At home, she begins cutting her own hair. Jong-chan arrives, offering to hold up a mirror for her.
Cast
*
Jeon Do-yeon
Jeon Do-yeon (; born February 11, 1973) is a South Korean actress. She won Best Actress at the 60th Cannes Film Festival, making her the second Korean actress to win an acting award at a prestigious film festival, and Best Performance by an Ac ...
as Lee Shin-ae
*
Song Kang-ho
Song Kang-ho (born January 17, 1967) is a South Korean actor. Song made his film debut in ''The Day a Pig Fell into the Well'' (1996), and came to national prominence with a series of critically acclaimed performances, including ''No. 3'' (1997) ...
as Kim Jong-chan
*Jo Young-jin as Park Do-seop
*
Kim Young-jae as Lee Min-ki
*Song Mi-rim as Jeong-ah
*Seon Jeong-yeop
*Kim Mi-hyang
*Lee Yoon-hee
*Kim Jong-su
*
Kim Mi-kyung
Kim Mi-kyung (born October 14, 1963) is a South Korean actress. She is most active as a supporting actress in television dramas.
Kim has been a member of the ''Yeonwoo Mudae'' theater company since 1985.
Filmography
Television series
Web ...
*
Lee Joong-ok
Lee Joong-ok (born 1979) is a South Korean actor. He is known for his roles in dramas such as '' Hell Is Other People'', '' Sketch'' and ''Hi Bye, Mama!
''Hi Bye, Mama!'' () is a 2020 South Korean television series starring Kim Tae-hee, Lee ...
as Hope House employee
*
Yeom Hye-ran
Yeom Hye-ran (born October 30, 1976) is a South Korean actress.
Career
Yeom began her career in theater in 1999 and made her screen debut in 2003. She has since played supporting roles in film and television, notably ''Dear My Friends'' (2016 ...
Critical response
The film was widely acclaimed on the festival circuit, with particular and universal praise for Do-yeon's performance. It received multiple awards, including several Best Film wins and numerous Best Actress awards for Do-yeon.
It was nominated for the
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
at the
2007 Cannes Film Festival
The 60th Cannes Film Festival ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. The President of the Jury was British director Stephen Frears. Twenty two films from twelve countries were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. The awards were announced on 26 May. ''4 M ...
, but did not win.
The film was similarly acclaimed in its American release in 2010. On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 94% based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 7.68/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Plumbing the depths of tragedy without succumbing to melodrama, Chang-dong Lee's ''Secret Sunshine'' is a grueling, albeit moving, piece of beautifully acted cinema." With 6 reviews, it scored 84 on
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, indicating "universal acclaim."
A.O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott (born July 10, 1966) is an American journalist and cultural critic. He has been chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' since 2004, a title he shares with Manohla Dargis.
Early life
Scott was born on July 10, 1966 in ...
of the
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
called the film "clear, elegant and lyrical. The experience of watching
hang-dong'sfilms is not always pleasant... yet his quiet and exacting humaneness infuses even the most dreadful moments with an intimation of grace." Noel Murray, writing for
the A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
, called it "a frequently beautiful film with a cold, dark heart" and praised Do-yeon's "powerful performance."
Michael Atkinson of
the Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
wrote that "the red-eyed Jeon, landing a Best Actress at Cannes in 2007 and unforgettable as well in ''
The Housemaid'', goes to hell and back." In 2019, director
Hirokazu Kore-eda
is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. He began his career in television and has since directed more than a dozen feature films, including '' Nobody Knows'' (2004), '' Still Walking'' (2008), and '' After the Storm'' ( ...
named it as the best film of the 21st century, praising Lee's "deep insight into human nature". In 2020, ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' ranked it number 7 among the classics of modern South Korean Cinema.
Home video release
On August 23, 2011,
The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
released the film on DVD and Blu-ray, both of which includes a new video interview with Lee Chang-dong, a behind-the-scenes featurette, the US theatrical trailer, and a booklet featuring a new film essay by film critic Dennis Lim.
Accolades
See also
*
Miryang
Miryang (perhaps pronounced as Milbeol using Idu script), formerly also spelled as 推火郡 (probably pronounced as Milbeol or Miribeol using Idu script), Milbeol (密伐) and Milseong (密城), is a city in Gyeongsangnam-do Province, South Ko ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
''Secret Sunshine: A Cinema of Lucidity''an essay by Dennis Lim at the
Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
{{Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Film
2007 films
2007 drama films
South Korean drama films
Films about evangelicalism
Films based on short fiction
Films directed by Lee Chang-dong
Films set in South Gyeongsang Province
Films set in Seoul
2000s Korean-language films
Asian Film Award for Best Film winners
Films about child abduction
Films shot in South Gyeongsang Province
2000s South Korean films