Shin Hae-sun reflects on fake luxury in 'Art of Sarah'

Actor Shin Hae-sun spent her 20s without a single luxury bag, choosing instead to ignore what she could not afford.

Now, she anchors the Netflix mystery thriller "The Art of Sarah" as a woman so consumed by the desire for status that she fabricates her entire identity around counterfeit designer goods.

During a recent interview at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, Shin discussed the psychological toll of playing Sarah Kim, the Asia branch manager for the fictional luxury brand Boudoir.

The series deliberately subverts traditional morality, opening with Sarah's sudden disappearance and the discovery of an unidentified corpse in a sewer outside a high-end boutique.

While Sarah boasts a flawless attitude and impeccable styling, her life is an illusion. Her designer bags are manufactured in an underground sweatshop in Sinwol-dong, and her name hides her original identity as Mok Ga-hee.

The character's profound ambiguity forced the veteran actor to discard her meticulous preparation methods. Shin typically designs her emotional arcs and physical movements long before arriving on set.

"The script was interesting, and I was curious about the ending, but I could not pin down how to define this character," she said. "So I decided to rely on my instincts and give it a shot on set."

The series leaves viewers questioning the boundary between sincerity and calculation. Shin saw this unreadable subtext wearing her down.

"Other characters have certainty, but I couldn't feel anything certain about Sarah Kim," she said. "It is impossible to tell if her actions are genuine. Having to act ambiguously as the script intended was the most difficult part."

Despite the deception, Shin noted that the character's emotions were not entirely fabricated.

"We concluded among ourselves that she must have been sincere in those moments," she said regarding Sarah's dual existence as Mok Ga-hee.

The anxiety peaked during a tense interrogation scene opposite co-star Lee Jun-hyuk, who plays detective Park Mu-gyeong. Shin entered the shoot without a concrete plan. Lee suggested a script reading beforehand, but scheduling conflicts prevented it.

"I have to act in front of the camera, but it is anxious not knowing what I am going to do," Shin said. "I'd been struggling with it right up until roll. Still, my mindset was to read the room and follow his lead. I sincerely think our chemistry matched well."

She credited director Lee Jung-rim with providing crucial stability, describing him as reliable.

"When I was confused, he told me, 'Just trust me and follow,'" she said. "Looking at the completed version, all of the director's explanations fit perfectly, so I felt the urge to call him at dawn."

The narrative frames luxury goods not merely as objects of consumer desire, but as a toxic metric for human value.

"I thought luxury goods were a metaphor," Shin said. "Ultimately, it seemed like a matter of value. Wasn't it that Sarah Kim wanted to make herself a luxury good?"

This philosophy sharply contrasts with Shin's grounded reality. The actor said she prefers to be someone who elevates the value of a 100,000 won ($68) bag, rather than relying on luxury brands for validation. While she understood Sarah's fundamental hunger, she stopped short of feeling pity for the character.

"For example, when I was young and only had 10,000 won, there was a continuous hungry feeling. I also thought, 'I would be satisfied if I had 1 million won,'" Shin said. "So I felt like I knew what deficiency was, but Sarah felt like she had a twisted sense of entitlement. So I think I didn't largely empathize."

The psychological weight of the dual identity made Shin question her career choices. She honestly confessed that the role's opacity made her ask herself, "Why did I do this?" during production.

"Sarah Kim runs toward her aspiration, but the emotions inside it are dual and ambiguous," she said. "It wasn't clear, so it was more difficult."

To cope with the stress over the five-and-a-half-month shoot, she turned to junk food. Her team even decorated her snack bag with jewels.

"I didn't weigh myself in that time," Shin said with a smile. "Because I couldn't cut off snacks, I couldn't especially manage my diet. I relieved stress with snacks."

Despite her extensive resume, Shin admitted she still finds acting inherently challenging, joking that she cannot even lie to her mother without her face turning red. Following the intense shoot, her immediate career goal is straightforward.

"Next time, I want to do a work that is a bit cheerful, grounded in reality and easy to shake off," she said.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.