Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Th Scarlet Letter / Juhong geulshi (South Korea, 2004) and the tragic story of Eun-ju Lee



This time I will not talk too much about the movie itself but more about the story behind it. A tragic story that makes you watch this film in a complete different way.

To begin with, ‘The scarlet letter’ deals about romance, betrayel, a different kind of love and regret. 75% Of this movie is decent, just about average, but the last 15/20 minutes are weird (in the trunk of a car) and very intense. It will leave you with an uncomfortable feeling. But again, knowing the story behind this film makes it really uncomfortable.


The star of this movie, in my eyes, is Eun-ju Lee. She acts with all her ability and she impressed very much! It is all before I heard she killed herself.
Because of this movie contained semi-nude scenes (don’t forget that most Korean people still have problems with this) the story goes that she almost starved herself to look good in those scenes. Maybe because of this she started to have problems within her own family. Some days after the release of ‘the Scarlet Letter’ 25 year old Eun-ju Lee was found by her brother, she hanged herself in her own closet. Why, me and many other, asked ourselves. She was a very talented actress. But everyone struggles with its own problems. Maybe she couldn’t bear to cause problems in her family, maybe it is something completely else.
Marks on her body indicated that she tried to slit her wrists as well, writing a farewell note in her own blood ‘Mother, I’m sorry, I love you’. A different farewell note showed: "I wanted to do too much. Even though I live, I'm not really alive. I don't want anyone to be disappointed. It's nice having money... I wanted to make money."


When I heard all this, I knew I would never forget this film and also that I never want to see it again. People even considered she took her own life because of the intensity of this movie. She is a great actress so I think that would not be the matter but no film deserves it to end in such horror in real life. Her own family said she would have suffered insomnia and depression because of the semi-nude scenes in this film.

The film was decent with a intense ending, the story behind it made it an awful, horrifying and heartbreaking experience. Eun-ju Lee, forever you will be remembered by those who knew the quality of your acting. Whatever caused your suicide, who are we to blame you? Such a cruel fate must mean she was also very strong, that it was enough.

To never see her smile again must be most hard for her child who has to live without its mom. Eun-ju Lee: Smile down to us sometimes.

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