Two sisters share a ghostly communion, their emotional transubstantiation a
grim portent of secretive abuse and incestuous deeds. Director Kim Ji-woon
weaves a mysterious tapestry of familial deceit and psychological trauma
interwoven with supernatural dread.
The film begins with Su-Mi being interviewed by a psychiatrist, seemingly
withdrawn into a static internal world until awakened by a family photograph.
This set-up leads the young woman Su-Mi back to her father and abusive
stepmother; her only companion her younger sister Su-Yeong who seems to share a
metaphysical bond that transcends the thick congealing blood of family ties.
The paternal power structure is upset as the father seems passive and powerless
in the face of the maternal malediction, the sisters victims to the dominating
and exhaustive rebukes.
Isolated in a small but upscale domicile somewhere in the woods, we begin
to experience frightening visions of a restless spirit from Su-Mi’s subjective
viewpoint: is her psyche fractured beyond repair…or is a ghostly entity
tormenting her? The narrative is told in flashbacks and crosscut with possible
hallucinations and it soon becomes difficult to tell fantasy from reality. The
troubled daughter seems to have transposed her identity upon the raging
step-mother, and the final scenes leave us bewildered and wishing to rewind to
discover the subtle clues: such as the timing of her period, the taking of
pills, or the bloody sack whose contents remain a violent mystery. The father’s
docile nature leads to the possibility of an overbearing guilt, and the
allusion of incest hangs in the air like a misspoken curse.
Kim Ji-woon spices the story with a few terrifying sequences as a ghastly
figure creeping across the floor that hovers above a traumatized Su-Mi,
menstrual blood whispering an accusation onto the bed sheets, or a dark haired
spirit crouched under the sink, a forlorn echo that reverberates through the
house’s ethereal milieu. The story peregrinates precariously between revelation
and unfathomable conundrum, but the answer lies hidden in a pair of empty
shoes…and a closet.
Final Cut: (B)
