Bedevilled (2010 film)


Bedevilled is a 2010 South Korean thriller film starring Seo Young-hee and Ji Sung-won. The film premiered as an official selection of International Critics' Week at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
It is the feature directorial debut of Jang Cheol-soo, who worked as an assistant director on the Kim Ki-duk films Samaritan Girl and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring. The film was a runaway hit in Korea, with the box-office returns far exceeding its budget.

Plot

Hae-won is a middle-rank officer working in a Seoul bank. A stern, tense, single woman, she is brought down by work-related stress and her hypercompetitive environment. Desperate for a change of pace, she takes up an offer from a long-forgotten friend to take a vacation in Mudo, a desolate Southern island where she spent childhood.
Arriving at the island, she is warmly welcomed by Bok-nam, with whom she had a close friendship when both were in their teens, but whose constant letters she's since ignored. Life on the undeveloped, socially regressive island is hard, and Bok-nam is treated as little more than a slave by her abusive husband Man-jong, his brother, and the local old women. All of Bok-nam's love is reserved for her young daughter Yeon-hee, with whom she tries to escape from the small, claustrophobic island. When the attempt is foiled by Man-jong and his friends and her daughter is accidentally killed in the struggle, and a mainland investigation is blocked by the locals, Bok-nam finally snaps, murdering the island's inhabitants with a sickle.
She moves to Seoul and tries to kill Hae-won, because she failed to help her or her daughter escape or to back up her story to the investigator. Finally Hae-won kills Bok-nam with her flute striking her neck.

Cast

Main characters

2010 Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival
2010 Cinema Digital Seoul Film Festival
2010 Fantastic Fest
2010 AFI Fest
2010 Grand Bell Awards
2010 Korean Association of Film Critics Awards
2010 Korean Film Awards
2010 Director's Cut Awards
2011 KOFRA Film Awards
2011 Gerardmer International Fantastic Film Festival
2011 Fantasporto Oporto International Film Festival
2011 :nl:Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival|Imagine: Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival
2011 Golden Cinematography Awards