Sympathy for Lady Vengeance – Park Chan Wook
The last installment of Park Chan Wook’s vengeance trilogy is perhaps the best film so far from this Korean superstar-of-the-moment director. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance further examines the theme of revenge, this time through the calculating mind of a female protagonist. Having made two explicitly violent films showing how revenge is carried out by male leads, Park Chan Wook focuses more on the planning and finesse of the execution in this cycle, more so than the satisfaction of exacting gore from villains who deserve to be punished.
From the very first shot, Park Chan Wook declares to viewers that his film is going to leave them wondering. Why exactly are a chorus of Santa Clauses standing in line behind a man with the worst haircut known to man? It is the day of Geum-Ja’s release from prison, after a 13-year sentence for abducting and killing a child, and her supposed minister friend has come to welcome her back into the world with a block of white tofu. She coolly overturns the block of tofu, puts on her sunglasses, and walks away; ending her 13-year facade of being saintly.
Similar to Oldboy, another film in the trilogy of revenge, Geum-Ja spent her sentence carefully plotting out a master plan. The difference between the two films is that her plot is equally for the sake of revenge as it is for the sake of atonement, as she explains to her daughter later in the film. As she visits each of her fellow cellmates who have already been released, they help her acquire an apartment and clothes, among other things. They all remark about how much she has changed. In prison, Geum-Ja was known as the kind-hearted Ms. Geum-Ja, but also as the “witch.” Because all the ex-inmates owe her favors, and are aware of her cold-heartedness, none of them reject her requests. On the one hand, Geum-Ja’s visits to her old cellmates reveals significant events that happened within the prison that made her the straight-faced, red eyeshadow-wearing robot that she is in the present. On the other hand, each visit also shows everybody’s respective stories. For example, the lady who received a kidney donation from Geum-Ja was incarcerated for a bank robbery she committed with her husband, who in turn helps Geum-Ja make her weapon of choice - a double barreled pistol.
Ultimately, viewers discover that the ghost-faced yet gorgeous Geum-Ja is nothing more than the victim of a set-up. She took the fall for a crime she did not commit to save her newborn daughter. Tracking down the man who framed her, she is in for a surprise when Mr. Baek’s phone alarm goes off while she is trying to muster up the courage to kill him. He kept a memento of all the children he killed on the keychain on his phone. If Geum-Ja’s character had been male, he would not have stepped aside to let the families of all the kidnapped children exact their revenge on Mr. Baek. The elegance of Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is even in the slaughter of the kidnapper: while all the families prepare their weapons and their raincoats, one particularly affluent grandmother walks into the killing chamber nonchalantly, without any protection or noticeable weapon – she takes his last breath with a pair of her grandchild’s scissors stabbed in his brainstem. Even so, the question remains: is anyone satisfied by revenge?
There is just so much more to Lady Vengeance than excellent plot, clever editing, beautiful music, and visceral acting. Every prop is carefully chosen by the director – Geum-Ja is surrounded with red objects, from prayer candles down to her threatening red eyeshadow. The film opens and closes with pure white tofu and closes with a white-iced cake, holding together Geum-Ja’s journey to seek revenge and atonement. Every shot is carefully composed, almost like a slideshow of expertly painted pictures. The originality, picture, and sound of this film are undoubtedly A+’s. Lee Young-ae breaks out from her good girl image to become a chilling killer. For anyone who loves thrillers without excessive gore, Lady Vengeance is the perfect vehicle for elegantly spooking yourself. Overall, this film is a superbly mind-blowing A+.
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