The Concubine

The Concubine
Título	La concubina del emperador
Ficha técnica
Dirección	Kim Dae-seung
Producción	Hwang Yoon-jeong
Guion	Hwang Yoon-jeong Kim Dae-seung Kim Mee-jung
Música	Jo Yeong-wook
Fotografía	Hwang Ki-seok
Montaje	Kim Sang-bum
Protagonistas	Jo Yeo-jeong Kim Dong-wook Kim Min-joon
Ver todos los créditos (IMDb)
Datos y cifras
País	Corea del Sur
Año	6 de junio del 2012
Género	Romance, cine erótico y drama
Duración	122 min.
Idioma(s)	coreano
Compañías
Distribución	Lotte Entertainment
Ficha en IMDb Ficha en FilmAffinity

The Concubine (Plantilla:Ko-hhrm; lit. "Royal Concubine: Concubine to the King"; en español, La concubina del emperador) es una película histórica surcoreana del 2012, dirigida por Kim Dae-seung.​​​​ Escenificada en los tiempos de la dinastía Joseon, se centra en Hwa-yeon (Jo Yeo-jeong), quien se convierte en la concubina real contra su voluntad; en Kwon-yoo (Kim Min-joon), atrapado entre el amor y la venganza, y el príncipe Sung-won (Kim Dong-wook), enamorado de Hwa-yeon a pesar de la larga lista de mujeres de las que puede disponer. Estos tres personajes forman un triángulo amoroso de pasiones peligrosas. La lucha por sobrevivir dentro de los estrechos límites del palacio es intensa, y sólo lo lograrán quienes tenga fuerza suficiente para superar las infernales circunstancias.​​​

Trama

Set during the early Joseon Dynasty, the film begins with a concubine of the previous king (Park Ji-young) in a precarious position of having no blood ties to her step son, the current childless, widow king (Jung Chan). She schemes to replace him on the throne with her submissive young son Sung-won (Kim Dong-wook). Indifferent to his mother’s plans, the timid prince falls in love at first sight with Hwa-yeon (Jo Yeo-jeong), an aristocrat’s daughter, who has already found love with Kwon-yoo (Kim Min-joon), a low-born commoner. When her father (Ahn Suk-hwan) must send her to the royal palace as a concubine for the king, the two lovers try to elope but are caught after their first night together. Hwa-yeon agrees to enter the palace in exchange for saving Kwon-yoo's life.

Five years later, Hwa-yeon has become the Queen from giving birth to a son. Sung-won comes back from traveling to see the King upon hearing of his ill-health. In a private conversation, Sung-won gifts a hair stick to Hwa-yeon as a present and confession of his feelings.

The king dies of a mysterious illness, and the former concubine sits her son, Prince Sung-won, on the throne as a puppet king, naming herself Regent and Queen Mother and taking firm control over the royal court. Hwa-yeon is moved to a closely watched, humble residence, where she is being under surveillance constantly. When Hwa-yeon's father, a royal court minister, attempts to prove that the previous king died from poisonous assassination, he and all of the ministers disloyal to the queen mother are arrested for treason.

Hwa-yeon discovers her former lover, Kwon-yoo, working in the castle among the eunuchs. Initially glad to see him, she reaches out for comfort and assistance, hoping some of their original feelings remain. Though his life was spared, Kwon-yoo was castrated by Hwa-yeon's father for daring to elope with her and he is now resentful and embittered towards both of them. Kwon-yoo has aligned himself with Minister Yoon and the Queen Mother to find power in his new position and rebuffs Hwa-yeon. Hwa-yeon's efforts to free her father and rescue him from execution are sabotaged by Kwon-yoo, who directly undermines Sung-won's exoneration orders to ensure the man's death. Kwon-yoo agrees to assassinate Hwa-yeon and her child with a block of poisonous aconite received from Minister Yoon by the orders of the Queen Mother, who wishes to secure her position and remove Hwa-yeon from influencing Sung-won.

Sung-won is still very attracted to Hwa-yeon, bestowing favors and attention. In a fit of pique, he takes Geum-ok, Hwa-yeon's personal maid, as a minor concubine so he can inquire about Hwa-yeon's private habits. One night, Sung-won enters Geum-ok's room and is frothed into a rage when he sees her wearing the hair stick he had gifted to Hwa-yeon. To save her own life, Geum-ok reveals that Kwon-yoo had a relationship with Hwa-yeon, and that the young prince had been born prematurely, making his parentage suspect. Sung-won confronts Hwa-yeon, accusing her of hiding her lover as a fake eunuch, but dismisses the accusations after pulling down Kwon-yoo's pants to reveal his castration. Sung-won attempts to rape Hwa-yeon, but Hwa-yeon shoves him off and tells him to "come back when you become a true King."

After this incident, Kwon-yoo believes that he is the father of Hwa-yeon's child from the night they eloped together and has a change of heart about helping her, swearing to protect her and her son at any cost. In order to place his son on the throne and place a trap for the Queen Mother and King, Kwon-yoo turns on Minister Yoon by placing the poison in Sung-woo's medicinal drink. However, Kwon-yoo is left with no choice but to drink his own concoction to allay suspicion from Hwa-yeon and his child. After Kwon-yoo's violent reaction to the poisonous medicinal drink, the interrogated physician admits that Minister Yoon, who is directly beneath the Queen Mother, is head of medicine.

Hwa-yeon has sent her son away for his safety and been imprisoned by the Queen Mother, who charges Hwa-yeon with treason and orders Minister Yoon to end both the mother and son's life. Sung-won accuses his mother of trying to poison him, leading to her admission that she had poisoned the previous king to place Sung-won on the throne, which horrifies him since he had loved his brother and never desired to be king. Kwon-yoo and Minister Yoon are brought in to confirm or deny the plot to poison the current king. Keeping his promise to Hwa-yeon to protect her and her son, Kwon-yoo lies, saying the Queen Mother was behind Sung-woo's assassination attempt, with Minister Yoon providing the poison. Sung-woo orders the men's execution and for the Queen Mother to be permanently placed under house arrest in her chambers.

In a carriage heading towards his execution, Kwon-yoo says his goodbyes and asks Hwa-yeon to protect their son after he dies, but Hwa-yeon replies "Our son? The prince is no one's son. He is my son." Kwon-yoo is devastated he has sacrificed his life for Hwa-yeon's child, who may not be his own, and Hwa-yeon has her revenge for her father's death.

Sung-woo, now a true king, is greeted in his room by Hwa-yeon and the two engage in sexual intercourse before Hwa-yeon kills him. Queen Mother is quickly disposed of after him.

The last scene shows Hwa-yeon smiling at her son playing on the throne in the empty royal court, before her face turns when the door shuts and she realizes she can't go back. ​​

Reparto

• Jo Yeo-jeong ... Shin Hwa-yeon​
• Kim Dong-wook ... Príncipe Sung-won​​​
• Kim Min-joon ... Kwon-yoo / Choong-young
• Park Ji-young ... la Reina Madre (Daebi), madre de Sung-won
• Jo Eun-ji ... Geum-ok, doncella de Hwa-yeon
• Lee Geung-young ... eunuco principal
• Park Chul-min ... Pil-woon, eunuco de la farmacia
• Ahn Suk-hwan ... Shin Ik-chul, padre de Hwa-yeon​
• Jo Gi-wang ... Yoon Jong-ho, el viceprimer ministro
• Oh Ji-hye ... Lady Park
• Hong Kyung-yun ... Lady Kim
• Park Chung-seok ... Seung Jeon-saek
• Park Min-jeong ... médium
• Im Jong-yun ... Jeong, ministro de la Izquierda
• Lee Seok-gu ... Go Won-ik
• Chae Dong-hyeon ... eunuco militar principal
• Oh Hyun-kyung ... Yoon Gi-hun
• Jung Chan ... King
• Hong Yeo-jin ... Suragan, dama de la Corte
• Lee Yong-nyeo ... anciana
• Kwon Byeong-gil

Crítica y recepción

Las reseñas y comentarios han sido positivos de manera casi unánime. El The Korea Times la calificó como "una de las mejores películas comerciales del año". Las noticias amarillistas sobre la película se centraron sobre todo en las escenas gráficas de sexo y en los desnudos de Jo Yeo-jeong,​ comentarios que los críticos locales consideraron equivocados y denigrantes para una obra que, según el The Korea Herald, "explora los temas de la traición, la venganza y las obsesiones, con muchos matices y en profundidad" y que "ofrece esencia y entretenimiento en abundancia, además de intrigas psicológicas casi shakespearianas." A pesar de las "muchas subtramas, que a ratos vuelven el flujo de la narrativa algo enrevesado", The Korea Times aseguró que se trataba de "un viaje intenso de texturas múltiples que ciertamente vale el esfuerzo", con "profundidades psicológicas que demandan múltiples miradas". Tanto la exuberante fotografía de Hwang Ki-seok ​ como el vestuario​​ recibieron elogios, lo mismo que la excelente actuación del reparto, en especial la de Kim Dong-wook.​

Uno de los momentos estelares de la película es el final, un alejamiento lento de la cámara en una escena que refleja una de las célebres imágenes del arte de la Cristiandad, La Piedad, de Miguel Ángel Buonarrotti. Esa imagen resume el carácter del Príncipe Sung-won y su tragedia... todo ello a partir de la relación con su madre, de cuyo abuso es víctima. El director Kim Dae-seung dijo también que se trata de una referencia a la salvación... o a la carencia de salvación, en las búsquedas que llevan a cabo todos los personajes. Todos terminan autodestruyéndose después de una prolongada lucha para salvarse, para salvar a sus hijos o, en el caso del rey, para salvar su amor.

Taquilla

Estrenada en Corea del Sur el 6 de junio del 2012, la película vendió 1.4 millones de boletos en sus primeros diez días, y para fin de mes ya había rebasado la marca de los dos millones de entradas. El Consejo Cinematográfico Coreano informó que vendió más de 2.6 millones de boletos, lo que la convirtió en la decimoprimera película coreana más vista en el 2012.​​​​​

Los derechos de distribución se firmaron con salas de ocho países: Nueva Zelanda, Singapur, Hong Kong, Japón, Taiwán, Australia, Malasia y Brunei.​​​

Premios y nominaciones

Premios de Cine Buil

{{:en:Buil Film Awards|XXI Premios de Cine Buil 2012}}

• Mejor Actriz de Reparto- Park Ji-young
• Nominación - Mejor Actriz - Jo Yeo-jeong
• Nominación - Mejor Fotografía - Hwang Ki-seok
• Nominación - Mejor Dirección Artística - Cho Geun-hyun

Premios Artísticos Baeksang

XLIX Premios Artísticos Paeksang 2013

• Mejor Actriz de Reparto - Jo Eun-ji

Ligas externas

• Página web oficial (en coreano)
• Plantilla:KMDb film
• The Concubine en Internet Movie Database (en inglés).
• Plantilla:Hancinema film