#sookhee

Genre: Gothic Romance, Psychological Revenge Thriller, Erotic

Rep: Lesbian characters (with an actual happy ending!)

Languages: Korean, Japanese

CW// Nudity, Explicit Sexual Content, Sexual Abuse, Suicide, Death, Torture, Blood, Male Gaze, Japanese Imperialism

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prev. in Part I

Symbolic props

Alongside the metal bells, the rope is another key element linking the events, in which it presents an explicit example of foreshadowing.

It first appears when Sook-hee discovers it in Hideko’s room. Given the knowledge that Hideko delivered to Sook-hee the night before —that Hideko’s aunt hanged herself on a tree in the yard— the film attempts to draw a connection (though it’s vague) between the tragic event of Hideko’s aunt and the rope.

The rope appears once again when Hideko and Sook-hee elope from her uncle, which is left hanging on the tree. This gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story, which is revealed in Act II as Hideko attempts to hang herself the way her aunt did.

Some other symbolic props are also well-planned in the film, like the missing shoe and the picture of Hideko’s mother (which are linked to the reveal of Hideko and Count Fujiwara double-crossing Sook-hee, that Hideko’s naïveté was part of the con).