<Spinning the Tales of Cruelty Towards Women (Yeoinjanhoksa mulreya mulreya)> (1983)

Director : Lee Du-Yong
Production Company : Han Rim Films Co., Ltd
Date of Rate : 1983-11-07
Date of Theatrical Release : 1984-02-25
Running Time : 100 min.
Opening Theater : Myeong Bo Theater
Genre : Melodrama, Costume Drama

Staff :
Screenplay(Adaptation) : Lim Chung
Producer : Jeong Wung-Ki
Director of PhotoGraphy : Lee Seong-Chun
Gaffer : Cha Jeong-Nam
Music : Jeong Yun-Ju
Art Director : Lee Hae-Yun, Kim Young-Lan
Editor : Lee Kyeong-Ja

Cast(Actor/Actress) :
Won Mi-Kyeong, Shin Il-Ryong, Choi Seong-Ho, Moon Jeong-Suk

Synopsis

Kil-rye, a young girl from an upper-class family that has seen better days, is married off for money to the deceased son of a local magnate named Mr. Kim. Mrs. Kim (Moon Jeong-suk), intending to glorify her family by making Kil-rye a renowned "widow of virtue," keeps her new daughter-in-law preoccupied with myriad household chores. However, Kil-rye (Won Mi-kyeong) grows up and has a chance encounter that brings about her sexual awakening. She has repeated physical relations with Han-seong, who, much like herself, has been playing the part of widower to Mr. Kim's dead daughter. When Mr. Kim finds out, he kicks Kil-rye out of the house, but gives her the opportunity to start a new life with Yun-bo (Shin Il-ryong), a servant in Mr. Chae's household. As a servant for Mr. Chae alongside her new husband, Kil-ryelives a happy life despite her fallen social status. But when Mr. Chae begins repeatedly violating Kil-rye, Yun-bo kills his master and runs away with his wife. Some time later, Yun-bo discovers that his family, whom he believed to have been exterminated by the government, has been restored. He reunites with his parents, taking his wife with him. Overnight, Kil-rye goes from a lowly servant to the daughter-in-law of influential Official Yun. But the luxury is short-lived: when she fails to conceive a child after more than three years, Kil-rye and her husband are plunged into anxiety. When the problem turns out to be on Yun-bo's side, Kil-rye is forced to sleep with another man in order to produce a son to continue the family name. On the day her son is presented to Official Yun's ancestors at the family burial ground, Kil-rye receives a silver blade from her husband and hangs herself.

Notes

"A work of painstaking effort that raised the level of artistic awareness in Korean cinema, at a time when the artisanal spirit was sorely lacking" (Kim Jong-won)
Set in the Joseon period, Spinning the Tales... depicts the atrocities that women suffered under the strictures of patriarchal society. In order to highlight the oppression experienced by Joseon women from a variety of standpoints, the movie takes the unique approach of having the heroine's social status change several times. Indeed, Kil-rye occupies no less than four different social positions throughout the narrative: she goes from a poor gentleman's daughter to a young widow, then to the servant of an upper-class household, and finally to a daughter-in-law in an influential family. But no matter what position she finds herself in, her sufferings remain the same. The oppression of patriarchy is most intensively inflicted upon her body. Under the Confucian pretext of "chastity, "patriarchal society strictly monitors her sex and sexuality. When she escapes from this control, she comes face to face with the threat of death. The only time she is able to satisfy her sexual desire is when she lives as the wife of a servant, on the lowest rung of the social ladder, but her body is once again violated by a man of the upper class. Once Kil-rye becomes the daughter-in-law of Official Yun, the restored father of her husband Yun-bo, all her misfortunes seem to be a thing of the past. It is just at this point that her sexuality and her body are subjected to the cruelest violation. When Yun-bo was a mere servant, he murdered his depraved master in order to protect his wife; after his family recovers its social status, the now-upper-class Yun-bo upholds the moral codes of patriarchy by condemning his wife to suicide. Thus, Kil-rye is in effect murdered by her husband, whom she loved. By portraying the vicissitudes of Kil-rye's life with a vibrant palette and a dense plot that offers one twist after another, Spinning the Tales... scathingly censures the evils of Confucian, patriarchal society and its tendency to prohibit the fulfillment of women's sexual desires. There is some question, nonetheless, as to how far this critical standpoint relates to today's social problems.

Director Bio: Lee Du-yong (1942- )

Born in 1942. After making his directorial debut with The Lost Wedding Veil (Ilh-eobeolin myeonsapo), he continued to make many films in a variety of genres including action films, melodramas and period films and achieved success with his hit Imbecile (Dol-a-i) (1985) series of action films. He received international recognition for his films that dealt with the plight of women in the Confucian and patriarchal Korean society, receiving the Special Award at the Venice Film Festival for The Hut (Pimag) (1980) and the Prix Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival for Spinning, the Tales of Cruelty Towards Women (Yeoinjanhoksa mulreya mulreya) (1983). His other important works include Eunuch (Naesi) (1986), The Oldest Son (Jangnam) (1984), and Road to Cheongsong Prison (Cheongsong-eulo ganeun gil) (1990).