Product Details

• Actors: Hyo-jeong Lee, Seung-woo Cho, Sung-nyu Kim, Hak-young Kim, Jung-hun Lee
• Directors: Kwon-taek Im
• Format: Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Korean
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: New Yorker Video
• DVD Release Date: October 9, 2001
• Run Time: 120 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005NX23
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #66,498 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Chunhyang" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

Imagine a cross between a Homeric rhapsode, chanting one of the epics in front of a roaring fire, and the blues singer Muddy Waters. That's roughly the sound produced by the great Korean entertainer Cho Sang Hyun. As the film opens, he sits onstage before a contemporary audience and sings of an eighteenth-century Korean Romeo and Juliet. Then we see the tale: in Namwon Province, the governor's son-fifteen-year-old Mongryong (Cho Seung Woo), who has a man's voice and a man's determination-falls in love with, pursues, and immediately marries Chunhyang (Lee Hyo Jung), the beautiful daughter of a courtesan. The scenes of the slender teen-agers courting and making love have a delicate erotic strength-a mixture of shyness and lust-that is nearly unimaginable in a modern Western setting. When Mongryong goes away to Seoul to study, his bride falls into the hands of the evil new provincial governor, who wants to turn her into a courtesan. Throughout, the story is sung to us-it's a lyrical epic-so we accept the absence of psychological realism and the abrupt plot turns. Directed by Im Kwon Taek, who has made more than ninety films. In Korean. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

From the Back Cover

In the tradition of the epic drama Raise the Red Lantern, Chunhyang is a beautiful tale of forbidden passion and devotion unfolding in the spectacular settings of the 18th Century Korea. Mongryong, the privileged son of a Governor falls in love with Chunhyang, the beautiful daughter of a proud former courtesan. Inseparably, the two lovers marry, but must keep their marriage a secret, for fear of reprisal. Soon, Mongryong is ordered to Seoul to finish his education, reluctantly leaving his new bride behind but promising that he will send for her. As time passes, however, a new, vindictive Governor is appointed in the province where Chunhyang lives. This new Governor pursues Chunhyang and when she refuses his advances, she is imprisoned and sentenced to death. Chunhyang's only hope for being saved is her continued faith in the promise Mongryong once made her.
A gorgeous and spirited film, Chunhyang is a classic tale of lovers torn apart by two different worlds, and the power and ultimate triumph of love over adversity.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Social Commentary, Unjust Laws, and Old Fashioned Romance, February 20, 2005

By	Miguel B. Llora (Bay Point, California USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

As a summary, Korean director Im Kwon Taek brings to the screen (in this case DVD) a visually stunning fairy-tale about ill-fated lovers. Chunhyang has a very Romeo and Julietesque theme to it but with a twist - two twits actually. The story is framed on two basic premises: (1) That there is a class divide and never shall the tenet be breached and (2) The issue of unjust laws. In a nutshell, Chunhyang (Yi Hyo Jeong) is a daughter of the former courtesan Wolmae (Kim Sung Nyu) who unwittingly spellbinds Mongryong (Cho Seung Woo) who is the son of the current governor of Namwon province.

The colorful sets, and costumes are the basis for a very Zhang Yimouesque visual feast. However, the movie stands on its writing and editing - the constant return to the themes of a socially constructed class divide and the endurance (no matter how naïve) of love is the DVD's defining moment. As mentioned previously, Chunhyang is the descendant of a retired courtesan and a former governor, which somewhat determines her fate. Completely enamored, Mongryong pledges undying commitment to Chunhyang, etches on her gown, "Like the sun and the moon, my love will never change." The couple secretly marries. The love scenes of their first wedding night are both tender and discrete making the play both sensual and innocent.

Unfortunately, Mongryong has not fully dealt with the family/class issue pre-marriage and is called upon to follow his father to Seoul - where his father has been promoted to a Cabinet member position and will have to give up his governorship. In the interim, Byun (Lee Jung Hun) arrives to replace Mongryong's father as the new Governor of the Namwon province. Almost on queue - the story turns Greek tragic. Byun falls in love with the beautiful Chunhyang and demands she give himself to him as a courtesan. Predictably she resists gaining the ire and the full extent of the law, as it is treason to deny the Governor. She invokes another law - which falls on deaf ears that it is unlawful to sleep with another man's wife. Byun commands her to be whipped until she act in accordance with the law. However, the worst-case scenario happens as after rebuffs he deems she must be put to death.

In his three years absence young Mongryong tops the government exam and is appointed the king to test out on the management of the provinces. Masquerading as a poor vagrant, Mongryong sets his sights on Namwon province and comes home to find oppressed town folk and his wife beaten, incarcerated and in anticipation of the carrying out of her death sentence. One would wonder that in the three years apart no one tried to contact Mongryong but it would not bode well for the story as he needs to gain in prominence sans the worry of a wife who was already deemed unfit for him.

Don't forget for a moment that Mongryong is establishment and in carrying out his corrective action still clings to the notion that it is illegal to deny the governor - ironies within ironies. This is not a simple narrative and in it is embedded plots and subplots that are worthy of a place as a national narrative. Besides who are we kidding, Yi is hot in an almost innocent sort of way and her defiance of the Governor's edict is stellar. I was left with the memory of vibrant colors that reminded me of such epics as Hero and Ju Dou proving that East Asian have a real handle on the element of color. Who can deny that the combination of tragedy/love/color/social commentary is nothing short of a masterpiece? No one, I guess.

Miguel Llora

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pansori & beauty, May 31, 2005

By	Chick (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This is one of the most beautiful and delectably edited movies I've ever seen. The actors know their roles wholeheartedly. My guess they are classically-trained theatre actors. Chunhyang is one of Korea's 5 stories told in the oral tradition, and was originally for adults. Pansori, if you've ever taken a class or tried it, is very difficult. Requires power from the diaphragm and vocal range. Once, there were 7 of us in a class, and all together, the power of our voices could not top the sole instructor. Im Kwon-taek was smart to incorporate the pansori. For those of you who dont know, there is no Chunhyang the tale without pansori, so it's absolutely necessary to this movie. "Chunhyang-ga" is by balladeer Jo Sang-Hyeon, also known as National Intangible Asset #5.

My dvd said it's Japanese. Someone should be fired for not fact-checking. Also, it's nothing like Raise the Red Lantern or Zhang Yimou. But westerners need to write that to make it relative to their prior movie experience. Chunhyang is a beautiful story of poetry and honor and meditation. It's about love's fidelity.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A woman against the magistrate's authority, September 17, 2005

By	Kwang Woo Noh "like an empty boat on the sea" (Carbondale, IL, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It seems that many people think that a woman is totally suject
under male-dominant society. Under Confucious order, Korea
was male dominant society and woman did not appropriate rights
and opportunity as man. So what? in 17th or 18th century,
European men did not allow or share their rights with European
women, either.

The reason why some feminists enjoy this film is that not only
this story is love story, which may make them feel guilty, but
also it's a story of a woman who was not submissive to local
authority. You can compare this movie with Dagerous Beauty in
which a Venezian courtesan could not challenge the authority.
For me, the great scene is the magistrate's interrogation and
torture to Chunhyang. In this scene, Chunhyang did give up and
said what she thought againt brutal magistrate's demand.

"You are a daughter of a courtesan, so you are a courtesan, too.
You should serve to me. It's a law. If you will not follow the
law, I will punish you. "

"What kind of punishment is given to a man who tries to rape
and urge adultery to a married woman?"