April Snow (Korea)

Main Cast:
Bae yong Joon as In Su
Son Ye Jin as Seo Young

Synopsis
The story line is quite simple, really. A man and a woman were seriously injured in a car accident. Their respective spouses rushed to their bedsides, only to surmise that the two were in an affair and the accident happened during one of their trysts. In coping with the hurt, the betrayal and the confusion that resulted from this discovery, the two In Su and Seo Young, were drawn together and became involved in a (sexual) relationship themselves.

Review

What would a normal person do after discovering the betrayal of adultery by his/her partner? What would he/she do? What are his/her immediate reactions/actions? Would he/she become violent and lash out at anyone and everyone, the first being the partner? Or would he/she become introspective and melancholic, saddened and depressed? Betrayal in any form, by anyone, is difficult to handle at the best of times and it is doubly so by your nearest and dearest. It is an emotionally lacerating experience and if not dealt with, will become destructively attritive to the person's psyche.

A person's reactions would depend very much on the strength and depth of his/her relationship with his/her partner in the first place. Generally speaking, the deeper the commitment, the bigger the devastation will be. In this era of pragmatic disposability, injured pride, rather than the loss of love, will probably motivate a person to extract revenge (in whatever form). In this day and time too, more likely than not the adulterous parties would have been abandoned, coma or not. This is especially true if the party is female as males are more often tolerated for their adulterous transgressions, particularly in patriarchal Asian societies such as Korea.

In this movie, the female protagonist, Seo Young, suffers more. Small manifestations of her anger and frustrations were shown, like when she covered her husband's face whilst he was still in a coma. After the death of her husband, this is made worse. She could not get angry with a dead person neither could she get answers as to why her husband cheats on her. And later on when it was shown that In Su's wife survived her ordeal, she was left deeply sadder knowing that the man she has fallen in love with is tied to another person. In Su, on the other hand, is portrayed as a man with an uncommon tolerance for his wife's betrayal. When asked by his wife whether there was anything he wanted to know, he just said no, not any more. It could mean he does not care anymore because he has fallen in love with another woman or it could also mean he does not want his wife to hurt more. But he too was shown as despairing over his dilemma but seemingly unable to make a choice until much later.

In 'April Snow' the reactions are muted and understated, but not less devastating. I like the illusion that people can act with dignity (or at least a semblance of it) in the face of this kind of betrayal. I also like the illusion of the two protagonists falling in love, not out of revenge but because they were drawn to each other. The younger male audience might dismissively call this movie a chick flick, but I still find it enjoyable, bringing to the fore the time-tested issues of love, fidelity/infidelity, loyalty and honour. This is a human drama and I love it precisely because of that. It is a nice change from the onslaught of car chases, gratuitous sex scenes and the indiscriminate violence of modern-day film genres.

The pace is slow, deliberate, and may be a little too slow for some. The pregnant pauses are a tad too long, perhaps to emphasize the depth of despondency, guilt and dilemma facing the protagonists. Fans of the "Bespectacled One" (Bae Yong Jin) should be happy there as there are many shots of him, up close and personal. He still portrays what he does best: being silently enigmatic, taciturn but exuding gentleness and kindness that women love so much in a man.

Son Ye Jin was good too. Unfortunately, given the theme of the movie, we are not able to see expressions of unmitigated happiness that she joyously displayed in the early part of another chick flick 'A Moment to Remember'. Even though the movie was rather forgettable, Son Ye Jin was great there, expressing a range of emotions convincingly.

Many of my friends were confused by the ending of this movie. Whilst it hints at the presumption of the affair between In Su and Seo Young, at the improbable time of snow falling in spring, it leaves open the question of what happened to In Su's wife and to their marriage. But then again Korean movies love enigmatic endings.