Film society to screen 'Madame Freedom'
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By John Redmond
The Seoul Film Society and the Royal Asiatic Society Cinema Club will show a 1956 Korean masterpiece, “Madame Freedom” (Jayu buin) from director Han Hyeong-mo on Saturday.
Set shortly after the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, “Madame Freedom,” based on a book of the same name, looks into the changing attitudes of an economically struggling South Korea as it begins to embrace Western culture, in particular, an underground craze for Western-style dancing. Police often raided clubs where this took place.
In “Madame Freedom ― dubbed “the most controversial film in Korean cinematic history,” ― Oh Sun-young, (Kim Jung-rim) lives a modern marriage (not arranged) with her husband, Prof. Jang Tae-yoon (Park Am), and their young son Kyoung-soo.
Though loyal to each other, Oh and Jang have independent lives. Oh works in a Western cosmetics shop called Paris, where she is drawn into a world of affluence, and Professor Jang moonlights as a Korean teacher for a former female student working in a Westerner’s office.
Director Han takes a melodramatic approach to changing attitudes in modern Korea, where women were becoming financially and emotionally independent. The film features Korea’s first on screen kiss.
“Madame Freedom” also features a controversial scene in a dance hall where an orchestra plays the mambo while a dancer in a thin black dress seduces the crowd.
“This is the most controversial film in Korean cinematic history, which made sensational waves throughout post-liberation society by portraying the transgressive sexuality of a college professor’s wife and her advancement into the public sphere,” said the organizer of Saturday’s screening.
There will be an introduction by Matt, a well-known, highly regarded writer of the popular blog “Gusts of Popular Feeling” at populargusts.blogspot.kr/.
After the screening there will be a general discussion.
The film stars Kim Jung-rim, Park Am, Lee Min, Noh Kyung-hee, Yang Mee-hee, Kim Dong-won, Joo Seon-tae, Ko Hyang-mi and An Na-young.
The event will begin at 3 p.m. at Haechi Hall in the Seoul Global Cultural Center on the 5th Floor of M Plaza in Myeong-dong.
This screening is free and open to the public. It is an excellent opportunity to see this classic, highly regarded Korean film on a big screen in a great venue. English subtitles.
For more information visit:
https://www.facebook.com/events/
.