Untold Scandal
Combining bold erotica, historical detail and eloquent tragedy, Untold Scandal roots Choderlos de Lacio's Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 19the century Korea. Previously set in pre-revolutionary France (Dangerous Liaisons) and in a wealthy New York prep school (Cruel Intensions), this version of the timeless Gallic tale of treachery, lust and sacrifice "may even be the best of the lot" (Los Angeles Times). Elegant, courtly and sexually voracious young Lord Jowon's (Bae Yong-jun) public life of idle nobility masks a not-so-private life of unending sexual conquest. Challenged by his equally debauched cousin Lady Cho (Lee Mi-Suk) to seduce a teenaged virgin (Lee Soh-yeon) threatening Cho's household kingdom, Jo-won accepts on condition that Cho surrender herself to him if he succeeds. But the real target of Jo-won's rapacious charm and ardor becomes Lad Sook (Jeon Do-yeon), a stunningly attractive, pious widow known as "the gate of chastity." As Untold Scandal's Machiavellian intrigue heats up, Jo-won's boast that "I have room for only one person in my heart" may prove his undoing. Full of "startling beauty" (LA Weekly), Untold Scandal maps the labyrinth of the soul as surely as it details the pleasures of the flesh. Its glossy evocation of the decadence and hypocrisy of the Chosun Dynasty, Korea's Victorian age, broke box office records in South Korea. After the US release, Untold Scandal's "stunning costumes and art direction, lush landscapes, and beautiful framed and lighted sequences" (New York Post) were declared "a major feat" (The New York Times).