Passion and Pleasure: The Untold Scandals of the Heart

Love. Hate. Jealousy. Passion. Betrayal. Sexual awakening. Director E J-yong's provocative drama, Untold Scandal, shows that a powerful story like Choderlos de Laclo's novel Dangerous Liasons can transcend any culture differences. The cold viciousness and manipulation behind the seemingly respectable high class society is given an interesting twist when placed in the strict moral confines of Confucian ideals. With exquisite cinematography and gorgeous sets and costumes of 18th century Korea, this elegant film is mesmerizing and painfully gripping at the same time.

Lord Cho-won (Bae Yong-jun) is the first son of a ruling provincial family during Korea's Chosun Dynasty, and he's built a reputation for his womanizing ways. He takes pride in his conquests, seeing virginal women as challenges for him to seduce and overpower. His partner in crime is cousin Madam Cho (Lee Mi-sook), an impressively empowering woman, tragically born in a time where the only outlet for her intelligence and proficiency is through manipulation and revenge. Madam Cho wants her cousin to deflower and impregnate her husband's concubine (Lee Soh Yeon), but Cho-won has set his sights higher—on Lady Sook (Jeon Do-yeon), a beautiful follower of the Catholic Church who has defended her chastity for 9 years since her husband died. A high-stake bet is fashioned: If Cho-won can seduce Lady Sook, Madam Cho will give up her body to him, giving him the forbidden love he has always dreamed about but could never have. But, if he loses, he will have to become a priest. She might be joking, but he knows better than to question her.

Untold Scandal definitely has the aspects of remoteness and the chilling guiltless exterior that made Stephen Frear's 1988 film Dangerous Liasons work, but J-yong's version is more colorful and lively. There's an extra dose of comedic moments, almost as if the characters aren't taking themselves too seriously, which makes the hit that much more drastic and unexpected when morality strikes and an uninvited conscience interrupts the comfort of apathy. Bae Yong-jun, known for his work on Korean television, sheds his sweet heartthrob status in this gritty role, and he succeeds at giving the character great depth and layers.

His transformation is so subtle that we're not sure whether we should believe that there was a transformation. The most interesting moments of the film come from watching Cho-won's inner struggle, unable to deal with his love, frantically trying to push her away. We see it in his eyes, vulnerability seeping out and his desperate attempt to suppress any humanity. He's a lost soul, and when he finds love, we're not sure if he deserves Lady Sook's emotional leap of faith. But their union is so raw and unexpectedly organic, that we, against any rationality, almost want to believe him. He delicately jerks back and forth across the fine line between evoking sympathy and wrath.

Lee Mi-sook is fabulously heartless as Madam Cho, and Jeon Do-yeon takes a potentially one-dimensional role and makes us understand her inevitable surrender to her suppressed human desires while still believing in her strength as a character. Lee Soh Yeon, as the young naive concubine, provides some comic relief as we're shaking our heads at how ridiculously gullible she is.

Overall, Untold Scandal is a passionate movie that excels in its emotionally excruciating contradictions. J-yong doesn't shy away from powerfully erotic portrayals of sexuality, which were impressively more provocative and explicit than anything in most American films. But it's done so tastefully and honestly, which is a testament to J-yong's vision. At the Q&A session following the showing at the Los Angeles Film Festival, J-yong described his choice to set it in the 18th century in order to parallel the exact time period that the novel takes place in France. J-yong also wanted to reinvent the Korean costume period movie by using classical Baroque music in the background instead of the expected Korean instrumental music. Asked about any difficulties with ratings and censors for the sexually charged scenes, J-yong looked confused and seemed to genuinely think that this would be a PG-13 movie in America. The audience gently informed him otherwise, but I think we were all won over by the true sincerity of his assumption.

Untold Scandal is a huge hit in Korea. It brought in 1.2 million viewers, 5 days after the premiere screening, making it the biggest opening ever for a Korean film. Recently, in June 2004, it won the Golden Goblet at the Shanghai International Film Festival for Best Director, Best Music, and Best Visual and Sound Effects. It's out on DVD now, with English and Chinese subtitles. Also available is a Limited Special Edition, which includes a booklet of Cho-won's erotic paintings inside.