A Female Boss
Director: Han Hyeong-mo
Year: 1959
Rating: 5.5
Country: Korea
If one views this 1959 Korean film as a time capsule
of Korea in 1959, it can be interesting almost as a sociological study. As
a romantic comedy that it attempts to be, perhaps not so much as it falls
short on both counts. At least for today's audience. Korea at the time is
emerging from the War with the North; at one point a curfew is mentioned
though in a matter of fact way that is not part of the plot, men have a hint
of desperation about them as they apply for a job, one man being interviewed
who has just come out of the army is a comedic target for his ultra-patriotic
manner of speaking, a dog is kicked for being fed on Western expensive treats
that "people cannot afford". These instances are not a big part of
the film but no doubt spoke to audiences back then. As did its portrayal
of modernity that comes full circle by the end.
The tune that opens the film's credits announce its contemporary setting
and romantic theme- Burt Bacharach's Magic Moments. Yong-ho (Lee Soo-ryeon)
is one of many looking for work and has an interview lined up for the following
day. He is waiting at a pay phone to make a call but the woman on the phone
is taking forever and they exchange unpleasant words. It is immediately apparent
that she is from the upper class with her dog named Mario, her flouncy flowered
hat and her disdainful attitude to those waiting. Clearly privileged. Through
the film she wears an array of very modern fashionable outfits. This being
a comedy with a sliver of screwball in it, she turns out to be the head of
the woman's magazine company he is interviewing for. The men being interviewed
are probably the comedic highlight of the film - a line-up of Korean masculinity
from extreme to dithering. One fellow claims to be a Shakespeare scholar
- and so the two women ask him what play is the quote "To be or not to be"
from - Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet - he answers that he has read Hamlet and
Juliet, but not Romeo. They laugh at him in scorn.
At a quick glance the film might be taken as a progressive female film. The
boss is Joanna (mind the English taken name at a time of American military
presence), the two people directly under her are women, she flirts with men
who she may need favors from, they all treat the men in the office with mockery
giving them nicknames of Mr. Huh and Toad. Above her desk Joanna has a sign
saying "Women are superior to men". Other modern aspects are the night clubs
she visits, the mambo that is danced to in her office, her sexual come-ons
to the man she is attracted to even taking him to what appears to be a hotel
room, the girl in the office who gets pregnant before marriage. But it is
all a front, a mirage, a straw woman to be knocked down later. The film pokes
holes in all of this. Joanna has the magazine because of wealthy male relatives,
it is poorly run with no magazine being published in three months, staff
keep getting asked to resign on a whim.
She gives a job to Yong-ho in order to humiliate him - make his life miserable.
He tolerates it quietly because jobs are scarce in Korea. Yong-ho is an attractive
man - he continuously gets the female gaze directed at him like he is an
edible snack - Joanna's sister develops a crush on him - but he doesn't really
have a lot of zing and is very chauvinistic in his own way. When he was being
interviewed he is asked why he isn't married - he replies because all women
he meets are "bragging women". But he has a good jump shot in a basketball
game between rival companies that lasts for about five minutes of the film.
So Joanna falls for him and him for her - as unlikely a coupling as Godzilla
and King Kong. It makes no sense. They have zero chemistry. Neither are particularly
likable - especially her and her shrew ways. But he doesn't tame her as in
the play, she just finds his male magnetism overwhelming. She wants to be
taken.
Not to have a spoiler but anyone can see this coming from their first encounter
at the pay phone - she quits, puts him in charge, gets married and becomes
the perfect married wife cooking for him at home. And under his management
the company thrives and the sign is changed to "Men are superior to women".
I wasn't bothered really by this patriarchal attitude - I mean it is 1959
Korea - not so different from most of the world at that time. In the Korean
film My Sister is a Tomboy (Hussy) which the same director helmed in 1961
almost the exact same scenario takes place. A woman just needs the right
man to put her in her place - at home. It is just that it is a slow somewhat
dullish film with two leaden performances - the side characters are much
livelier and the sister is adorable - marry her you idiot. A lot of it is
filmed outside in what I assume was Seoul and I loved those parts - big American
cars and small carts side by side, the low level skyline. The Korean economic
miracle was yet to come.
It is directed by Han Hyeong-mo who was considered one of the top Korean
directors of the 1950s in particular for strong female characters as in Madame
Freedom (a married woman has an affair), My Sister is a Tomboy/Hussy (a female
judo expert) and The Hand of Destiny (a female North Korean spy). His female
characters ran the show - think Bette Davis and Joan Crawford - in a period
when normal Korean women were very traditional homemakers and mothers. They
were transgressive. Modern in dress, attitudes towards work and sex and towards
their place in society. His films were commercially very successful and showed
that in Korea, Korean films could compete against American films. He also
broke the taboo of kissing with the first on-screen kiss in a Korean film
in Hand of Destiny (1954). These films helped launch what is termed the Golden
Age of Korean cinema from 1954 - 1972. His films have had a few retrospectives
in the West, a very recent one being at the Korea Society in NYC.
At their website they have a video of Christina Klein who wrote Cold War
Cosmopolitanism: Period Style in 1950s Korean Cinema talking about the director
and his films. She argues that the reason that he often had an ending of
a woman returning to her expected position in society was due to basic commercial
needs. That a woman who did not would be a disaster at the box office back
then but giving an audience an affirmation of their prejudices was what they
wanted. That the audience allowed the first 80 minutes of a woman's modernity
if they had this type of ending. Maybe but from today's perspective it feels
like a defeat for feminism - a kick in the shins - saying this is where you
will be really happy. Cooking kimchi. This film and a few of his others are
up on YouTube in the Korean Archive Channel.