Lady Vengeance

Plot

After thirteen and half years in prison for kidnapping and murdering the boy Park Won-mo, Geum-ja Lee is released and tries to fix her life…

Release Year: 2005

Rating: 7.7/10 (26,898 voted)

Critic's Score: 75/100

Director:
Chan-wook Park

Stars: Yeong-ae Lee, Min-sik Choi, Shi-hoo Kim

Storyline
After thirteen and half years in prison for kidnapping and murdering the boy Park Won-mo, Geum-ja Lee is released and tries to fix her life. She finds a job in a bakery; she orders the manufacturing of a special weapon; she reunites with her daughter, who was adopted by an Australian family; and she plots revenge against the real killer of Won-mo, the English teacher Mr. Baek. With the support of former inmates from prison, Geum-ja seeks an unattained redemption with her vengeance.

Writers: Chan-wook Park, Seo-Gyeong Jeong

Cast:

Yeong-ae Lee
–

Geum-ja Lee

Min-sik Choi
–

Mr. Baek

Shi-hoo Kim
–

Geun-shik

Yea-young Kwon
–

Jenny

Tony Barry
–

StepFather, Australian

Anne Cordiner
–

StepMother, Australian

Su-hee Go
–

Ma-nyeo

Hye-jeong Kang
–

Tv announcer

Bu-seon Kim
–

So-young Woo

Byeong-ok Kim
–

Preacher

Dae-yeon Lee
–

Prison head

Seung-Shin Lee
–

Yi-jeong Park

Su-gyeong Lim
–

A prison officer

Il-woo Nam
–

Detective Choi

Dal-su Oh
–

Mr. Chang

Taglines:
Lee Geum-Ja, have mercy on us…

Details

Official Website:
Official site [Germany] |
Official site [South Korea] |

Release Date: 29 July 2005

Box Office Details

Budget: KRW 4,200,000,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: HKD 914,116
(Hong Kong)
(16 October 2005)
(29 Screens)

Gross: $211,667
(USA)
(1 October 2006)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min
 |
Argentina: 112 min
(Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Did You Know?

Trivia:

The snow at the ending is not real. They brought two trucks of salt, scattered it all over the street and finally adjusted the scene using computer graphics.

Quotes:

Geum-ja Lee:
Be White. Live White. Like this.

User Review

Unexpected poetry and bleak hilarity

Rating: 9/10


"Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" is a surprisingly poetic finale to Park's
excellent Revenge Trilogy. The film fuses the relatively low-key style
of "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" with the jet-black humor of "Oldboy,"
while adding welcome moments of poignancy and sentiment. The film is
nowhere near as violent as its predecessors, although a good deal of
mayhem takes place offscreen.

Yeong-ae Lee is outstanding as the troubled protagonist Geum-ja, the
ex-convict who is seeking redemption as much as revenge. Although the
supporting actors — including several from Park's earlier films — are
uniformly fine, Lee's performance is the heart of the film.

"Lady Vengeance" is difficult to describe without revealing major plot
points, as the most memorable scenes come at revelatory moments in the
story. Suffice it to say that the climax blends tragedy and hilarity
with a degree of success that few directors could hope to match.

9/10. Bravo.