The Scarlet Letter (2004 film)

The Scarlet Letter is a 2004 South Korean film about a police detective who investigates a murder case while struggling to hang onto his relationships with his wife and mistress. It is the second film by La Femis-graduate and academic Byun Hyuk (Daniel H. Byun), and starred Han Suk-kyu, Lee Eun-ju, Sung Hyun-ah and Uhm Ji-won. The film debuted as the closing film of the Pusan International Film Festival in 2004.

Despite Lee Eun-ju's prior experience with depicting sex and nudity in Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (2000), she came under the scrutiny of Korean press and netizens, for the highly emotional sex scenes and the notorious "trunk scene" in The Scarlet Letter which is regarded as "one of the most shocking and intense scenes in the history of Korean film." It is speculated her demanding role and its public scrutiny, had compounded and overlapped with an existing variety of family, financial, career, and insomnia issues. Her severe depression ended in suicide in February 2005, and the tragic conclusion has since become the central focus in popular perception and interpretation of the film, this particular one being her last.

The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter: A Romance is an 1850 work of fiction in a historical setting, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and is considered to be his best work. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston, Massachusetts, during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an affair and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Throughout the book, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.

Plot

In June 1642, in the Puritan town of Boston, a crowd gathers to witness the punishment of Hester Prynne, a young woman found guilty of adultery. She is required to wear a scarlet "A" ("A" standing for adulteress) on her dress to shame her. She must stand on the scaffold for three hours, to be exposed to public humiliation. As Hester approaches the scaffold, many of the women in the crowd are angered by her beauty and quiet dignity. When demanded and cajoled to name the father of her child, Hester refuses.

As Hester looks out over the crowd, she notices a small, misshapen man and recognizes him as her long-lost husband, who has been presumed lost at sea. When the husband sees Hester's shame, he asks a man in the crowd about her and is told the story of his wife's adultery. He angrily exclaims that the child's father, the partner in the adulterous act, should also be punished and vows to find the man. He chooses a new name – Roger Chillingworth – to aid him in his plan.

The Scarlet Letter (1926 film)

The Scarlet Letter is a 1926 American drama film, based on the book by the same name, and directed by Victor Sjöström. Louis B. Mayer was reluctant on using Miss Gish, fearing opposition from church groups. The film was announced as "It's a real 'A' picture", taking advantage of the 'A' for Adultery. Prints of the film survive in the MGM/United Artists film archives and the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

Cast

The Scarlet Letter (1913 film)

The Scarlet Letter is a 1913 silent film that was based on the novel of the same title; which was written in 1850. It was directed by David Miles and starred Linda Arvidson, Murdock MacQuarrie and Charles Perley.

Background Information

This film was a remake of a 1908 and a 1911 film, this film would also be remade in 1917; which is the oldest film version of the novel to exist in a complete copy. The most known of all silent versions is the 1926 film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Lillian Gish; at the time when she was under contract to them. This film is notable for being filmed in Kinemacolor; a early color film process of the time, but only one reel of this film survives making it unknown how long in length it actually could have been. Had the film been beyond 40 minutes in length it would have been an early color feature film.

References

External links

The Scarlet Letter at the Internet Movie Database