My Friend and His Wife

Colour, 35 mm
South Korea, 2006, 110 min
EP – European premiere
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

Two young men, Ye-joon and Jae-moon, have been close friends since doing military service together. Ye-joon has lately worked his way up to becoming a successful financier, while the unambitious Jae-moon has opted for a much less conspicuous route. He now works as a cook and is enjoying family life with his wife Ji-sook and their new-born son. Ji-sook tolerates her husband’s attachment to his friend, but everything changes after the tragic death of the child, caused by Ye-joon. Ji-sook was in Paris when the tragedy occurred and isn’t aware of the circumstances; she even starts an affair with Ye-joon when her husband is imprisoned after taking the blame for his son’s death. Relationships which were originally crystal-clear begin to grow distinctly cloudy. With his sense of propriety and his refined manners, Ye-joon manages at length to mask his ruthless egocentricity, and Ji-sook has to endure bitter and difficult times before she realises how and with whom she is to share her future… The film’s visual minimalism accentuates the characterisation and moralistic traits in this story of an unusual human triangle.

About the director

Shin Dong-il (b. 1968, Seoul) began studying German and then switched to film direction at the Korean Film Academy. Before making his first feature, he shot several shorts and participated in a financial support programme for young filmmakers. His debut film Host and Guest (2005) was well received at the International Forum of Young Cinema at the Berlinale in 2006 and at the Karlovy Vary IFF in 2006. As in the case of his second film My Friend and His Wife (2006), here he also focused on the intimacy of the human experience and on the conflicting and complex issues associated with various types of human relationships.