Korea's first female director made THIS spicy 1955 melodrama and we're still recovering.
Lee Shin-ja is a young widow, subject to the prejudices against her position in society. Trying to provide for her daughter as well as find love, Lee becomes entangled in the lives of her late husband's friend, his wife, and her lover.
Direction
Park Nam-ok smuggled feminist fire into studio melodrama.
Acting
Lee Min-ja's eyes alone carry three acts of longing.
Director
Park Nam-ok
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Park Nam-ok literally built her own camera crane from scrap wood because male crews refused to work for a woman director. The resourcefulness shows in every frame.
This was considered 'women's trash' by critics then, but watch how it codes queer desire and class critique through melodrama conventions — subversive as hell.
KR
