Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

(Chinjeolhan geumjassi), Park Chan-wook / Korea, 2005
Korean / English subtitles, 112 min

A beautiful and young woman with angels and devils in her soul was 13 years prisoned for a murderer. After she´s been released she´s on a carefully planned mission of vengeance. It is a perilous venture into the psychology of a woman pursuing her personal sense of justice - without ever finding salvation. The film is Park‘s last entry in his dazzling Vengeance Trilogy. He sculpts edgy characters whose strength is defined by their ambiguity: irreparably damaged by wrongs committed against them, their obsessive drive for revenge nonetheless takes on a sinister hue.

Park Chan-wook studied philosophy at Sogang University in Korea. He began his career as a film critic and later as an assistant director; he debuted as a director in 1992. He made his mark on world cinematography with a film Joint Security Area: JSA (2000), about guards in the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea. His next film Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) was also highly acclaimed. His feature film Old Boy (2003) won Grand Jury Award at Cannes International Film Festival in 2004.