Romance Series: the love language of Park Chan-Wook

April 28, 2023.

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Old Boy, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance which are directed by Park Chan-Wook are famous for their moral play that deals with revenge as well as how visually gory and brutal they are. For instance, Old Boy is famous for the long take scene where Choi Minsik fights with the gang with his hammer. Thus, Park Chan-Wook is known as someone who likes to film something explicit. He was even asked at Cannes why the film Decision to Leave has less violence and sexual scenes. However, audiences and critics less tend to talk about his love language in his cinema. Park actually has a delicate and unique way of portraying love in his film. This paper is going to cover two romance films – Thirst, The Handmaiden – to explore how these films each have a specific relationship and backgrounds that create the situation for the characters falling in love. These two films all feature unique relationships such as a priest who became a vampire falling in love with a woman who has suppressed her desire (Thirst), a maiden falling in love with someone on whom she is committing fraud (The Handmaiden).

Thirst - Liberation from taboos

Thirst is based on a novel, Thérèse Raquin, written by Émile Zola. The storyline of a man falling in love with a married woman and that incident leading them to tragedy is similar, but Park Chan-Wook added the subjects of religion and vampirism. Sanghyeon is a priest who became a vampire after getting infected by a virus from a clinical test he participated in. Priests usually live a sacred existence and suppress their desires. It is ironic that Sanghyeon has become someone who craves blood, which is a primitive symbol. This contrasted imagery comes from Park Chan-Wook’s experience of going to Catholic church when he was young. Park saw lots of religious paintings and most of them portrayed saints being crucified or tortured which was gory to see, but related sacred fables. Taeju is a woman who lives with Ms. La and his disabled son. She was abandoned by her father and left at Ms. La’s house when she was young, and she was ‘tamed’ by Ms. La. Taeju has no power to disobey Ms. La, so she helps her work and forcefully gets married to her son Kangwu and takes care of him as a babysitter. The only pleasure that she has is running around the village that she lives in barefooted at night. Ms. La is a Korean who owns a Hanbok (Korean traditional clothing) store, drinks vodka and plays mahjong at the same time. This mixture of cultures shows that Thirst contains things that are created by blending, which results in a third creation. This includes Sanghyeon who has become a vampire. Since he is a priest (catholicism is not even originated in Korea) and this makes Sanghyeon an ironic existence that he is a priest who needs human blood by hurting people. Later on in the film, Taeju yells at him “You are a bacteria!”meaning that he is an alien type of creature that ruins the harmony of her world. This line of Taegu emphasizes his character in this film as mentioned above.

Triangular desire theory - Sanghyeon, Taeju and Kangwu

The scene where Taeju yells at him that he is a bacteria shows the climax of their conflict, which leads Sanghyeon to murder Taeju. Sanghyeon and Taeju secretly met after being attracted to each other, and Taeju lied to him that Kangwu abuses her. She tries to make him pity her for planning the murder of Kangwu. Their relationship resembles Rene Girard’s triangular desire theory. This triangular desire theory involves a subject (the person desiring), an object (the thing being desired), and a mediator (the person modeling desire) between the two. The mediator, who enters and disrupts the linear relationship, fuels the passion of desire in both the subject and the love object, and his or her continued presence sustains the flame. To apply this theory into Thirst, Kangwu is the mediator, which works as an excuse for them to develop their relationship. Sanghyeon and Taeju are objects to each other. Kangwu, as a mediator, works as an excuse for Taeju to make Sanghyeon care about her, and eventually plan a murder of Kangwu together. The scenes that show their development of romantic relationships feature Kangwu a lot. For instance, when Taeju and Sanghyeon secretly meet at the clothing store and try to have sex, Ms. La calls Taeju to help Kangwu. This shot is strangely shot in that although Ms. La is on the second floor, zooming quickly on her face and the echo of her voice made it feel like Taeju is still under control of Ms. La while she is trying to pursue her own desire. Ms. La’s interruption on the excuse of Kangwu motivates their next meeting at the hospital where Sanghyeon works. After having sex at the hospital, Sanghyeon reveals that he is a vampire by showing her himself sipping the blood of his unconscious patient. This shot also uses smooth zoom to show Sanghyeon’s cannibalism, and we can only hear Taeju yelling and running away from him. Sanghyeon shows his power as a vampire on the top of the building, and carries Taeju around. Taeju accidentally reveals her scar on her thigh, and lies to him that Kangwu did that to her. This also made Sanghyeon hate Kangwu who hurts Taeju. They plan to murder Kangwu on the boat at night. However, after his death, their relationship starts to lose balance. This collapse is foreshadowed in the scene where Sanghyeon and Taeju murder Kangwu on the boat. At this scene, three of them are on the boat. Sanghyeon and Taeju sit next to each other, facing Kangwu on the other side. They quietly stare at Kangwu, and Kangwu seems like he doesn't know anything. Taeju stimulates Sanghyeon to start their plan by saying “What are you doing? We should finish this before the sun rises.” Sanghyeon stands up with hesitation, and the boat starts to shake with his movement. He attacks Kangwu and falls into the river together, and the boat loses its balance and Taeju looks at them in awe. While the boat is shaking, the fish gut accidentally penetrates Taeju’s ear. This murder sequence is interesting in that it happens on the boat where it is easy to lose balance when someone moves abruptly, and three of them were balancing physically which makes a triangle. After Kangwu’s death, their relationship starts to lose balance as it did on the boat. Since Kangwu, the mediator is gone, they lost their excuse for their passion of love. This is expressed in the sex scene of it. During the sex scene, they ask each other why everything is so humid and wet around them. The sound design of water dripping and the water actually falling on them as if there was a crack on the ceiling makes this scene bizarre. Their acting shows that they are faking orgasm, and make the sexual intercourse feel boring. The next shot shows Kangwu appears as their hallucination, being in between them while they are having sex. Kangwu is holding a huge rock that Sanghyeon used to drown him, and he is wet, and the water flow gets so hard that the whole bed is wet. Sanghyeon and Taeju ignore their illusion. This emphasizes their guiltiness of murdering Kagwu, and also shows how their relationship became unstable and boring without Kangwu.

Shoes as a romance language

Although the previous paragraphs mention how unstable their relationship is and what taboos, such as vampirism, that Park is featuring in this film, Thirst is still a romance film. Park uses shoes as a subject to show love in his films several times. This happens in Thirst, too. Taeju runs around her hometown without shoes at night. Since she runs without shoes, she got calluses. Her feet are closed up in the next shot of her running, and it turns into Sangyeon's POV shot of glaring at Taeju. This POV shot is blurry since Sanghyeon’s sight is blurry, and he puts his glasses on again. Taeju gets embarrassed and runs away from him, and her feet are again in a closed-up shot. This angle remains, and Sanghyeon catches her up and holds her up, taking his shoes off and letting Taeju wear his shoes instead of him. The gesture of holding her up is shown by the low angle of the feet, which implies that Sanghyeon gained physical strength after becoming a vampire. Later on, these shoes appear again at the ending scene. Sanghyeon drives to the cliff with Taeju to see the sunrise and end their endless cursed fate of being vampires. Taeju struggles to hide from the sunrise; she tries to get under the car and inside of the trunk. After that, she gives up and sits next to Sanghyeon. She takes out the shoes that Sanghyeon gave to her and puts them on. The sun rises, and both of them burn together. Their faces are shot in medium close-up, and Sanghyeon says “Let’s meet at hell again.”, and Taeju responds, “There is nothing after death.” After they get burned, the last shot is their closed-up burned feet. Taeju’s feet crack and fall down, while the shoes are still on.

The Handmaiden - giving and taking language

The Handmaiden was honored as a lesbian film after its release. Like other queer films, there are lots of scenes that emphasize the gaze that made Hideko and Sukhee develop their relationships. However, there is an additional layer that makes them exchange their love:language. The first scene where language plays an important role in this film is where Hideko asks Sukhee to read her own recommendation letter since she feels tired. Sukhee keeps using Japanese since the film takes place in the period of Japanese occupation in Korea. However, Hideko keeps answering her in Korean. Sukhee flips the paper in frustration and struggles to read the letter. While she pretends to read the letter, the camera slowly zooms into her face. Although the camera is zooming in, the audiences cannot clearly see what’s actually written. Sukhee confesses that she is illiterate and Hideko writes Sukhee’s name on a paper and shows it to her. The pillar is in the middle of the frame, covering the paper that Hideoko is holding. This scene practically shows Sukhee’s struggling of being illiterate. This makes it seem like Hideko has the power dynamic since she knows how to read, but it is revealed later on in the film that she is actually used as a means to read erotic novels translated in Japanese for the customer who came for the public reading that her uncle Kouzuki hosts. When the second act starts in The Handmaiden, young Hideko sits next to her aunt across from her uncle. Aunt turns the page and Hideko reads the words out loud. When the page arrives at the part that has genitals drawings and the words penis and vagina, young Hideko starts to laugh. Her aunt also couldn’t resist laughing, too. The camera is located behind the uncle’s shoulder, making him blurry and an over the shoulder shot. Kouzuki stands up and walks next to them, placing himself in the middle of them. He starts to suffocate both of them by his hands that are covered with leather gloves. This shot creates a visual structure that shows Kouzuki being dominant and having power over them since young Hideko and aunt are sitting, and he is standing up. Plus, their faces are covered and muffled, and we can only see Kouzuki’s face. After her aunt hangs herself and Hideko becomes older, she becomes the reader of Kouzuki’s event. The reading scene shows Hideko reading the erotic novel in Japanese. Her face is placed in the middle of the frame. Hideoko doesn’t seem to flutter at all. The shot cuts to the customers who dressed up like western gentlemen appreciating her reading. They are sitting on the staircase-looking seats. They are saying nothing, just gazing at her with desire. One of their faces turns red and sighs. This sequence goes back and forth between Hideko’s closed up face and the group of customers, and makes Hideko seem like she is the object of the gentlemen’s desire. However, she is not always the subject of the male gaze. The scene where Hideko reads the novel, she dominates the reading by making the session as the medium for her own desire, too. Her attitude of reading is steady and calm, and has a consistent tone of voice. She goes to the point where she creates imagery by her reading. There is a shot that shows Hideko actually being the female role of the novel and tying a guy up and hits him. This imaginary shot shows that she is not only just reading the book as characters, but also has an ability to actively stimulate it visually.

Borrowing from Sukhee

As mentioned above that this film is a queer film that also plays with gaze, it is revealed later on in the film that Hideko has been spying on Sukhee who was trying to plan a conspiracy to steal her fortune. There is an interesting scene where Hideko eavesdrops on Sukhee’s language pattern and imitates it on her own when she talks to others. The scene where Sukhee arrives at Hideko’s house repeats again later in the POV of Hideko. The camera is placed on the hold on the door, and it shows that Hideko has been spying on Sukhee. Sukhee whispers “니미럴(motherfucker)”, and the next shot is Hideko’s closed-up lips repeating the word “니미럴" two times as if it is a new word that she learned in her life. This cuts to the part where Hideko is scolding other maidens who stole Sukhee’s shoes. There are four maidens standing in a row, and Hideko slaps their faces in order, while she is not in the frame. She asks who stole Sukhee’s shoes. The camera moves backward and shows the last person standing without saying anything. She slaps the last one harder. She scolds them in Japanese, but at the end, she says “니미럴" quietly and her face is closed-up.

Sukhee and Literacy

In the second part of the film, it is revealed that Sukhee and Hideko change their plan and decide to help each other. In contrast to the first part where Hideko fools Sukhee by writing the wrong thing to check if Sukhee can read or not, they write a letter to Sukhee’s place that they have changed the plan. This scene starts with Hideko sitting next to Sukhee, who is focusing on mimicking the characters that Hideko has written. In contrast to the first part where the camera intentionally covered what Hideko wrote, now what they are writing is visible. Camera first focuses on Sukhee and Hideko’s faces, and it moves to their hands and letters. Sukhee not only learns how to read and write, but also liberates Hideko from the erotic novels that she was forced to read. This scene starts with Sukhee and Hideko entering Kouzuki’s study. It is a low angle shot where only their feet are visible, and there is a snake statue in the middle of the frame, which symbolizes the limit of illiteracy where Sukhee couldn’t walk past in the first part of the film. Then, the camera shifts to Sukhee’s POV of sexual ornaments in that room. She picks up a book which is written in Japanese, she cannot read. This is also shot in POV, and Hideko’s medium close-up shot shows that she is about to cry. It shifts to Sukhee’s POV of turning the page. Next page is an erotic drawing of an octopus harassing a naked woman. Close up shot of the drawing focuses on the face of the woman, which looks like Hideko. Next shot is medium close-up Sukhee’s face looking up to Hideko again, checking her face. The camera goes back to Hideoko’s closed up face about to cry. Sukhee is full of anger, throwing all the books on the ground. The camera goes back and forth from a hand-held shot of Sukhee’s medium shot and torn books scattered on the ground. After her act of tearing them off, she opens up the tatami floor where the water flows under them. This sequence is shot in a wide steady angle, capturing Sukhee throwing the books in the water. Hideko’s medium shot shows her overwhelmed face and she scatters the red ink inside of the water. As mentioned above about the snake statue, Sukhee takes a long ruler and walks to the entrance again. This shot focuses on Sukhee’s hand holding the ruler. Sukhee is then framed in the middle, and the focus shifts to Hideko who is standing behind her and zooms into her face. The voice over says “My savior who came to destroy my life, my Tamako, my Sukhee.” Then Sukhee and the snake statue is in the middle of the frame, and the low angle makes Sukhee taller. Sukhee breaks the snake with her ruler. This also shows that Sukhee is breaking the gate that Kouzuki tried to gate-keep her from coming inside of his area.

Although Park Chan-Wook is best known for making gory and cruel films, he also made romance films that have his own way of showing love. Thirst and The Handmaiden both feature unique relationships such as a priest who became a vampire and an oppressed woman with desire, a maiden who tries to fraud a rich lady and the mysterious lady who reads erotic novels for the men. Thirst plays with the love triangle structure to show how their relationship scatters, and uses shoes as a subject that symbolizes love. The Handmaiden deals with the concept of language that leads to love by showing how borrowing language and liberating one from certain language such as male gaze.