Once at a pagoda Mongryong Lee, a scion of a well-to-do family, meets Chunhyang, the young daughter of a courtesan and an aristocrat. Despite her low social standing she is smart and well-educated. The young people fall in love and think about marriage so that they could always be together. Mongryong is soon to go to the capital to take the state civil service exam. They part and in Chunhyang's life there appears the greedy and lustful Byun Hak-do, who tries to seduce her.
Direction
Im Kwon-taek blends folklore with bold visual tableaux.
Score
Live pansori narration—like a Greek chorus possessed.
Cinematography
Every frame looks like a museum piece come alive.
Director
Im Kwon-taek
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This is the most filmed story in Korean cinema history—over 15 versions exist, but Im's is the only one to use live pansori narration throughout.
The film's structure mirrors the pansori performance itself: the narrator both tells the story AND judges the characters, creating Brechtian alienation that somehow makes the ending hit harder.
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