A Good Lawyer's Wife

This South Korean film dealing with the traumas of a fading marriage is deftly written, acted and shot. It deals with universal issues related to certain life stages with courage and sincerity, the characters are superbly drawn, the plot subtly moves and leaves the viewer with deep feelings and thoughts only such well-crafted and memorable films can.

Its a korean movie, so definitely well written , well performed , directed, and quality somehow is so so.

it does have some side line stories like korean war, some legal battles and some crime scene investigation stuff, but the main plot is about a lawyer and his wife. husband has some fling going on with someone else and wife is starting having some sexual connection with young kid next door.

As i lived some years in asian countries like china , thai , japan from 2010 to 2018 , this story is kinda real close to reality. busy lives, sexually frustrated husband n wife, and sometimes or many times, either one or both goes for filling that sexually frustration with someone else. and yeah, "cheating / adultery always ends bad" . it does . its always,

Im Sang-soo has long been considered a notable figure in the Korean New Wave, ever since his 1998 debut with Girls' Night Out.

However, based on the films I've seen, I've never quite understood why he's regarded as one of the greats in Korean cinema. The Attorney's Wife is yet another example.

This drama about a marriage in crisis leans heavily on erotic tension and benefits from solid performances by its two leads, but beyond that, it fails to leave a lasting impression.

Competent but far from essential, it lacks the depth or uniqueness that might elevate it above similar works.

My rating: ***

When a woman by the name of "Eun Ho-jung" (So-ri Moon) isn't busy raising an adopted son named "Joo Soo-in" (Joon-yeong Jang) she also has been tasked to take care of her father-in-law who is extremely ill due to alcoholism. Needless to say, these duties leave very little time for Eun to spend on herself and as a result she becomes bored and lonely. Little does she know that her husband "Joo Young-jak" (Jung-min Hwang) is having an affair with another woman and because of that he spends very little time satisfying her sexual needs. This causes her to become quite sexually frustrated as well. But that all changes one night when she notices a voyeur spying on her while she is at home and totally naked. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an okay South Korean drama which, surprisingly, includes a number of scenes involving sex and nudity. Unfortunately, the lack of good character development caused a bit of confusion for me at times and gave the film a rather shallow feel in the process. At least, that is how it seemed to me. In any case, despite the criticism just mentioned I didn't think that this was necessarily a bad film overall and because of that I have rated it accordingly. Average.

First, although A Good Lawyer's wife is billed as a comedy-drama, it is not. There's little humor to be found in this story of the end of a desolate marriage. Sexually abandoned by her cheating and emotionally indifferent husband, a housewife takes a casual interest in a 16 year old neighbor boy, whose raging hormones give her the passionate interest of a male, something that has disappeared in her marriage. This leads to teenage rituals involving kissing and groping. After a family tragedy, events lead to the culmination of this relationship and a starting point for a new and better life for her.

Beautifully written, acted and directed, the loose ends only add to the film's allure. Not for all tastes. Be warned this is an adult film with graphic nudity and frank dialog throughout, but very rewarding for the mature viewer.