Untold Scandal

"Untold Scandal (Joseon namnyeo sangyeoljisa)" is the best all-around adaptation of "Les Liaisons dangereuses."

Others have struck the right note with singular elements, but went flat on others. This has terrific, believable, very attractive casting -- from the young love-struck innocents to the older central cynics; an appropriate mise en scene of a rigid society with strict, hypocritical rules about women's behavior, here 18th century Korea; the epistolary format of the original to drive the machinations, helped by beautiful calligraphy and even writing positions; a varying tone that ranges from Shakespearean romantic comic bashing of human foibles to the diabolical thrusts that playing with people's hearts can really hurt, particularly communicated through the changing tone of the music.

This very frank version is particularly good at closely examining the full ramifications of lust vs. love, chastity vs. celibacy, experience vs. naivete, foreplay vs. consummation, and of course, men vs. women. This is a battle of the sexes with a lot of sex.

While it is a bit slow, the lush costumes, production design and settings fill the eye.

Though the opening credits are translated into English, the closing ones aren't -- but you must stay past them as the plot concludes devilishly with closing images that demonstrate that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

I wasn't sure about the accuracy of the English subtitles in describing the familial relationships among the characters as I was a bit confused about who was an in-law of whom how.

What can I say... 18th century century Korea is almost a picture perfect combo of "east meets west" with 18th century France. Many will probably judge Untold Scandal with the John Malkovich version of Dangerous Liaisons. Both versions need a little help, but "love story" was more profound and more touching in this version. Malkovich seemed like the faking unfaithful perp till the end, but in Untold Scandal you genuinely see the transformation in him from a seducer to a man desperately in love. While i didn't give a $hit about the characters in Dangerous liaisons since they are all pretty much ruthless bastards, you really care for everyone in Untold Scandal which made the ending even more depressing. Lastly, the simple and beautiful scenery of 18th century Korea is in itself breathtaking enough to see the film. I recommend both versions, you might want to see them back to back.

I've seen the previous films based on Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and I have to say that this one is surely the most subtle of the bunch, with wonderfully nuanced performances from all concerned. The story is familiar, of course, to anyone acquainted with the material, but it's the way it's told here, with such profound restraint, that separates it from being merely derivative. I haven't seen that many films from Korea, but based on this one, I would definitely like to see more, particularly from director Je-yong Lee.

Can't imagine why Elvis Mitchell (in his Times review) called this a comedy (and it's even listed here at IMDb as a drama/comedy) - perhaps if you're a first-class sadist, it would come across as amusing, this tragic story of disillusionment, heartbreak and ultimate death. I wasn't laughing.

(7 - the equivalent of a high *** - see my review of AI for my IMDb number/star equivalents, unique to this site)

This film is an interesting one. The story is adapted from the French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Dangerous Liasans). It's an 18th (maybe 17th?)century French novel of intrigue and scandal and the movie is set in... 18th century Korea, during the Chosun period. If you've seen Dangerous Liasans or a modern-day adaptation, Cruel Intentions, you've basically got the plot down. Male womanizer and scheming female near relative make a bet that womanizer can't seduce a pure woman. And stuff goes crazy from there.

So I decided to watch this film because it was a massive box-office opener in Korea, beating out all of its competition at the time. A few things that I noticed: 1) I like watching Korean period films, especially those of older Korea because the costumes and set design tend to be very aesthetically pleasing. The art direction is beautiful.

2) The acting was actually quite impressive--certainly better than Cruel Intentions, which is the only other version of this film that I've seen.

3) There are a few graphic sex scenes (and many suggested ones), so if you can't handle that, don't watch the film.

4) The tragedy is tragic and the love story is surprising. The ending was quite moving and was tragic because the flaws of the characters led to their own demise and loss of the things that they love.

5) Cinematography and direction are very strong and the primary actresses are particularly strong.

In the end, this was a well rendered adaptation, so much that I'm curious as to what the original source material is like. I really like the plot lines and the story because it converges so many different themes into a tragic tale of human weakness and yet manages to paint the weak, fallible and sometimes wicked characters in such a way that you still have some sympathy for them, showing that there is something in everyone that was or is beautiful, but it can get buried under the vices of this world.

All the actors are not strong and the film suffers a little from slow pacing, but in the end, it's a very watchable film that has a lot of strengths, even if the film isn't one of the great films of all time. If you can handle the content, I recommend this film. 8/10.

I absolutely adore the version directed by Stephen Frears (starring Malkovich and Glose) so i was very interested what Koreans had made out of it. Korean films that I have seen that far are very interesting, they have quite a different approach then Western movie makers.

I think it was a good and intense film and the historical Korean scenery added a lot. Still, I think that Frears'is film is way stronger. The only acting work that stood out stronger then Frears'is characters, was the lady who played the virtous Madam Sook (Michelle Pfeiffer's character in Frears'is version). This was an incredibly strong performance and I liked it more then Pfeffer's approach.

As to the others they slightly lacked detail and depth. Overall, the Korean protagonists were no match to John Malkovich and Glenn Close. And the whole lot of other characters, both men and women, looked and acted in such a similar way that it took me some time to distinct them from each other.

However, the film was still very interesting to watch and all this historical Korean world was beautifully shot. The film got better at the end and when the bad guy changed it was really moving and believable. Specially the last scene with him on the beach. I also very much liked the scene between him and Madam Sook in the library.