Chunhyang

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Chunhyang
Directed by	Im Kwon-taek
Produced by	Lee Tae-won
Written by	Kim Myoung-kon
Starring	Lee Hyo-jeong Jo Seung-woo
Distributed by	CJ Entertainment
Release date(s)	January 29, 2000
Running time	133 min.
Country	South Korea
Language	Korean
Budget	$2,500,000 US (est.)
IMDb profile
Korean name
Hangul	춘향뎐
Hanja	春香伝
Revised Romanization	Chunhyangdyeon
McCune-Reischauer	Ch'unhyangtyǒn

Chunhyang is a 2000 Korean film, directed by Im Kwon-taek and starring Lee Hyo-jeong and Jo Seung-woo.

The movie is told through pansori, a traditional Korean form of storytelling that seeks to narrate through song. An earlier film by Im Kwon-taek, Sopyonje, also used pansori as a narrative tool.

The film is based on Chunhyangga, a traditional Korean legend and is set in 18th century Korea.

Two lovers, Mongryong and Chunhyang, the son of a nobleman governor and the daughter of a former courtesan, marry in secret. Ordered to Seoul to finish his education as a public servant, Mongryong leaves his bride behind but promises he will return. A new governor is appointed to the province and soon becomes attracted to Chunyang, making advances. Upholding her love for Mongryong, Chunhyang suffers imprisonment and torture in her commitment to her husband. Her only hope to be saved from death is the promise Mongryong made to return.

In addition to the Romeo-and-Juliet-esque tale, Chunhyang sheds light on the realities of premodern Korea. Chunyang explores the harsh differences in living between the yangban (nobles by birthright) and non-yangban, and the realities of morally corrupt officials and yes-men functionaries.

[edit] Trivia

The film's Korean title "Chunhyangdyeon" (춘향뎐), particularly the character "dyeon" (뎐), uses the old style of spelling the character "jeon" (전). Reports criticised the movie for using explicit nude scenes with an actor and actress who were considered too young to be playing such scenes. They were barely in high school. Water had to be sprayed onto their bodies to give the scene a sense of reality.

[edit] External links

• Chunhyang website
• Chunhyang at the Internet Movie Database
• The Ch'unhyang Story - from the award-winning website Instrok.org, created by East Rock Institute

[edit] See also

• List of Korea-related topics
• Korean mythology
• List of Korean language films
• Korean cinema

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