| Chunhyang | |
| Director: | Im Kwon-taek |
| Producer: | Lee Tae-won |
| Starring: | Lee Hyo-jeong Cho Seung-woo |
| Music: | Kim Jung-gil |
| Cinematography: | Jung Il-sung |
| Editing: | Park Soon-deok |
| Distributor: | CJ Entertainment |
| Runtime: | 133 minutes |
| Country: | South Korea |
| Language: | Korean |
| Gross: | (USA)[1] |
Chunhyang is a 2000 South Korean period romantic drama film directed by Im Kwon-taek, with a screenplay by Kang Hye-yeon and Kim Myung-gon. Distributed by CJ Entertainment, the film was released on January 29, 2000 in South Korea. Lee Hyo-jeong plays Chunhyang and Cho Seung-woo plays Mongryong.
It is a film adaptation of the pansori Chunhyangga, one of the most notable works in the pansori tradition. To date, there have been more than sixteen works based on this narrative, including three North Korean films. Im Kwon-taek's Chunhyang presents a new interpretation of this oral tradition with a focus towards a more global audience.[2] It is the first Chunhyang adaptation that uses lyrics of pansori as a major part of the screenplay. The film uses the framing device of a present-day pansori narrator who, accompanied by a drummer, sings the story of Chunhyang in front of a responsive audience. The film flashes back and forth between the singer's presentation and scenes of Mongryong.
It was entered into the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.[3] The film is the first Korean film which was presented at the 2000 Telluride Film Festival.[4] At the 2000 Asia Pacific Film Festival, it won a Special Jury Award.[5] It also won an award for Best Narrative at the Hawaii International Film Festival in 2000.[6]
The film is told through pansori, a traditional Korean form of storytelling that seeks to narrate through song. It is based on Chunhyangga, a traditional Korean folktale and is set in 18th century Korea.
Lee Mongryong, a governor's son, falls in love and marries a beautiful girl Chunhyang Sung, the daughter of a courtesan. Their marriage is kept a secret from the governor who would immediately disown Lee if he found that his son married beneath him. The governor gets posted to Seoul and Mongryong is forced to leave his young wife behind, promising to come back for her when he passes the official exam.
After Mongryong leaves Namwon where Mongryong and Chunhyang first meets, new governor, Byun Hakdo, comes and wants Chunhyang for himself. When she refuses, stating that she already has a husband and will forever remain faithful to her beloved, the governor punishes her by flogging. Meanwhile, back in Seoul, Lee passes the test with the highest score and becomes an officer. Three years have passed and Lee Mongryong returns to the town on the King's mission. There, he finds out that his wife is to be beaten to death on the governor's birthday as a punishment for disobeying his lust. The governor, very corrupted and greedy, is arrested by Mongryong. The two lovers are finally united.[7]
The bed scene between Chunhyang and Mongryong took two days to film because Cho Seung-woo and Hyo-jeong Lee, who had no experience at all, were shy. The two of them didn't know there was a love scene until they started filming, and they were scared, and director Im Kwon-taek gave them homework to come after seeing 'Yellow Hair'.[8]
According to Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times, "Instead the story is freshened through the use of a Korean singing storyteller, a pansori singer, to provide a narration, belting out the song from a stage in front of an audience. The pansori, or song, is performed under a proscenium arch to highlight the ritual elements of folk tales. Even though much of what the pansori tells us unfolds before the cameras at the same moment, the forcefulness of the performance lends another layer of feeling to the picture."[9]
| Year | Award | Category | Recipients | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 53rd Cannes Film Festival | Palme d'Or | Im Kwon-taek | ||
| 21st Blue Dragon Film Awards | Best Film | Chunhyang | |||
| Best Director | Im Kwon-taek | ||||
| Best Supporting Actress | Kim Sung-nyeo | ||||
| Best New Actor | Cho Seung-woo | ||||
| 37th Grand Bell Awards | Best Film | Chunhyang | |||
| Special Jury Award | Im Kwon-taek | ||||
| Best Director | |||||
| Best Supporting Actress | Kim Sung-nyeo | ||||
| Best New Actor | Cho Seung-woo | ||||
| Best New Actress | Lee Hyo-jeong | ||||
| Best Cinematography | Jung II-sung | ||||
| Best Art Direction | Min Eon-ok | ||||
| 36th Baeksang Arts Awards | Grand Prize (Daesang) | Chunhyang | |||
| Best Director | Im Kwon-taek | ||||
| 8th Chunsa Film Art Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Kim Sung-nyeo | |||
| Best Cinematography | Jung II-sung | ||||
| Best Lighting | Lee Min-bu | ||||
| Best Planning/Producer | Lee Tae-won | ||||
| Telluride Film Festival | Film Presented | Chunhyang | |||
| Asia Pacific Film Festival | Special Jury Award | ||||
| Narrative Feature | Chunhyang | ||||
| 5th Busan International Film Festival | Netpac Award | Im Kwon-taek | |||
| 13th Singapore International Film Festival | Best Director | ||||
| 20th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards | Best Cinematography | Jung Il-sung | |||
| 2001 | Fribourg International Film Festival | Grand Prix | Im Kwon-taek | ||