A Tale Of Two Sisters [2003] [DVD]

I found that like all very fine films, "A Tale of Two Sisters" presented the viewer with quite complex questions without necessarily trying to give a final answer to the issues these questions raise. So, I'm going to mention some of the exploratory directions to which the landscape of the film directs me. By no means are these exhaustive of the areas covered in this film; they simply happen to be my first reactions to having watched it only twice.One area covers the meaning, perception and nature of what we normally mean by "reality". "Two Sisters" explores the interpenetration of the psychological reality of the various characters and relates it to what one might call the "true" empirically validated, external world as it would seem to appear to an external spectator. But, of course, once we are in the film we cease to be that kind of objective observer; ;) we too exist within the various worlds of the various characters and actually create a new perception apart from them.The method of creating a fragmented story line is completely in keeping with the fragmentation of the perspectives of the different characters. Each character sees only a particular vision of the world around him or her. It is interesting that in the very first scene we have a psychologist attempting to impose a particular framework on the Soo-mi. He washes his hands before the interview. I was reminded of Pontius Pilate who also washed his hands of a particular situation and who asked, "What is Truth?" This, for me, is a key question in the film. I suspect that everyone will find that each viewing teases out the question in different ways.A second area I found interesting was the subtle exploration of the nature of identity. Here, the question revolves around not only the concept of multiple identity, a condition embraced by and indulged in to some extent by each character--even the father--, but by the merging of the self with the other. Just as there was an interpenetration of reality, there seems to be a similar situation as regards self-hood. To what extent does one need to incorporate the "other" into one's psyche? Does Soo-mi require both Soo-yeon and Eun-joo to be part of herself and to validate her own actions and emotional requirements? Finally, to what extent is the strange, distant father, Moo-hyeon, responsible for the events which occur? Why is there such a profound love/hate relationship between daughter and father? You note that I provide no answers to these questions. For one thing, such answers would necessarily be utterly subjective--and they might well change with more viewings. More significantly, others might find that the film deals with entirely different questions altogether.The acting is phenomenal. All four main characters brilliantly interact. The score has a beautiful but ironic character, considering the kinds of events depicted in this film. While some of the camera work reminded me of Hitchcock Two Sisters is certainly far more sombre in tone than anything Hitchcock ever wished to create. In terms of ambiance, approach, and theme, I was most reminded of "The Cabinet of Dr Caligari" and "Pan's Labyrinth"--both of which share features with "Two Sisters", though the Korean film certainly follows its own original path.And each viewer will embark on a different personal and original voyage with each viewing.

This is, according to me, the best Asian horror movie ever made. (It's a South Korean movie)There are a lot that come very close (Kairo, Cure, Ringu, The Eye, The Grudge) but A Tale of Two Sisters beats them all by having a great story, a super-duper twist you'll never see coming and scenes that are so frightening that they'll even give hardened horror-buffs (like me) a very good case of the creeps. (Even though they are obviously heavily influenced by Ringu and the Grudge)And it's all so beautifully and artistically filmed. Even the wallpaper of the house is gorgeous. The colours in this film are so rich and vibrant, I've never seen its equal in any other film.The ending is perhaps my favourite horror scene ever (where the stepmother hears noises from an upstairs room and goes in to investigate) The visuals and music (those creept violins!!) are enough to scare you into next week. (To me its closest rival is the main character's meeting with the Grim Reaper himself in Kairo)I always loved a good scare (which is so scarce these days, isn't it) but this scene (and the whole film) definitely slaked my thirst the best it ever has been.It's also a very sad movie as well as being scary in the same way The Orphanage was.The story is very dense and convoluted so it may take you two or three viewings to catch all the little twists and meanings. It did me. I understood the main twist upon first viewing, but there were quite a few other scenes and character behaviours that I didn't quite get, but if you watch it again, you will get it.This film is a lot like The Sixth Sense in the sense that the second time you watch it, it's almost like watching a different movie because of what you already know.***SPOILER ALERT*****My other fave scene is where the younger sister finds out she's not real and only a figment of someone else's very disturbed mind and her reaction to this. Lots of screaming. Great scene and some great acting.

A tale of two sisters is a very fascinating film, which definitly needs several viewings, this is so you can place more pieces of the story together at the end. Visually I find that the films strong colours, in the home of the sisters like the bedrooms,kitchen...etc, gives it a great atmosphere, which is quite heavy and moody. There are lots of creepy and eerie moments and I found the actors did a great job in this film and loved the twists! Only thing is I wished that there was a little more of an explination at the end, but that is what makes it very different from other films, all the the twists keep you guessing what is really going on. It's definitly worth a watch and I recommend it to anyone who likes a plot full of surprises! It's a truely interesting film!!!

Interesting plot twist about a psychiatric patient with delusions but some scenes are confusing although the movie as a whole is good. It is a great movie anyway.

And I want to thank the other reviews about this movie. Well worth buying:-)

Ho avuto occasione di vedere questo film, anni fa e mi piacque immensamente. E' ben scritto, diretto e recitato. In tal senso l'attrice che interpreta la matrigna, rende perfettamente inquietante il personaggio. Si tratta di un riuscitissimo horror psicologico, in cui la tensione è magistralmente mantenuta fino alla fine soprattutto attraverso le ambientazioni e la fotografia.

Essentially a psychological thriller with some horror thrown in. It shows a family dealing with its tragedy in its own way. Watched it once but will need more watching to understand the significance of many scenes because the movie is like a puzzle gradually revealing itself. It is not a popcorn horror movie but one which requires careful watching. My only problem areas were the DVD quality which in spite on being played on a blu-ray player which supposedly upgrades the quality, needed some improvement, and the bold 'Shemaroo' logo at the bottom-right side of the screen that distracted from the movie. The movie is in Korean with English subtitles.

Ich habe noch nie zuvor einen koreanischen Film gesehen. „A Tale Of Two Sisters” ist ein sehr realistisches Psycho-Drama, was mich noch lange nach dem Abspann beschäftigt hat.Es geht um zwei Schwestern die nach einem längeren Aufenthalt in der Psychiatrie wieder nach Hause kommen. Der Empfang ist kühl. Eine merkwürdige Atmosphäre schlängelt sich durch das große Haus der Familie. Die Stiefmutter entpuppt sich schon bald als kaltherzige Frau, die keine Gnade kennt. Doch warum scheint der Vater all das nicht einzusehen?Ich kenne die amerikanische Version der Geschichte „The Uninvited“ bereits. Diese hat mir wirklich gut gefallen.Um ehrlich zu sein kann ich gar nicht sagen, welche Version mir persönlich besser gefällt.„A Tale Of Two Sisters“ hat einen sehr stummen Einstieg. Die Charaktere geben so gut wie kein Wort von sich, was mich zunächst ein wenig irritiert hat. Ich habe aber schnell gemerkt, dass das alles beabsichtigt ist. Dieser Film legt großen Wert auf Bildsprache und eigene Interpretation. Gewöhnungsbedürftig, aber effektiv.Die Geschichte wird von Minute zu Minute verstörender. Was in „The Uninvited“ zum Thriller wird, wird in diesem koreanischen Meisterwerk ein todtrauriges Drama, dessen Auflösung unfassbar unerwartet ist. Der Film wartet mit zwei großen Wendungen auf, eine davon war mir jedoch durch den amerikanischen Film bereits bekannt.In der letzten Szenerie musste ich dann tatsächlich ein Tränchen vergießen. Wenn man das nicht als Drama bezeichnen kann, dann weiß ich aber auch nicht.Auch das Ende von „The Uninvited“ hat mich sehr berührt und nachdenklich gemacht, aber die Emotionen in „A Tale Of Two Sisters“ sind noch einen ticken glaubwürdiger. Man fühlt vor allem mit den zwei Schwestern sehr mit und der Groll der Stiefmutter gegenüber steigt ins Unermessliche – bis zum wahrlich bitteren Ende …Musikalisch überzeugt der Film auf ganzer Linie. Meiner Meinung nach hätte man in die ein oder andere Szene ein paar mehr musikalische Untermalungen einbauen können, aber wahrscheinlich ist das ein koreanischer Trend und wie gesagt – ich bin Filme aus dieser Region überhaupt nicht gewöhnt.Die Schauspieler sind allesamt überzeugend. Besonders die Hauptprotagonistin liefert eine glaubwürdige Performance ab. In einer Szene, als sie panisch und weinend einen blutigen Sack zu öffnen versucht, hat mir das Herz gebrochen. Sehr authentisch trotz der Ruhe, die den Film durchzieht. Ihre kleine Schwester ist zuckersüß. Wie die beiden zusammenhalten ist sehr bewegend. Die Stiefmutter spielt überzeugend. Man entwickelt keinerlei Sympathie mit ihr und das zu spielen, vermag schon einiges an Können. Der Vater der Familie hat mir durchweg leid getan. Was er erdulden muss, ist schon ziemlich heftig. Seine teils seltsamen Reaktionen und Handlungen versteht man spätestens wenn man das Ende kennt.Schade finde ich die durchgehend triste Atmosphäre im Haus. Man gewöhnt sich zwar verblüffend schnell daran, da 90% der Handlung im Haus spielen, aber ein richtig wohliges Gefühl bekommt man dabei nicht. Genau das ist dann aber ironischerweise der Pluspunkt: die Atmosphäre ist unbeschreiblich dicht und besonders, fast schon einzigartig.Insgesamt finde ich „The Uninvited“ rein von der optischen Seite her besser gemacht. Hier wird nämlich deutlicher gezeigt, dass hinter all der Idylle so viel Elend stecken kann. In „A Tale Of Two Sisters“ weiß man bereits zu Beginn, als die Mädchen das Haus betreten, dass Idylle was anderes ist.Fazit: Stilvoll, sehr atmosphärisch und intelligent. Ein nahezu beispielloses Drama, mit einer erschütternden Story-Wendung, tollen Schauspielern und einem interessanten Ambiente.

This review is long overdue, since I consider A Tale of Two Sisters to be the single greatest film ever made. I'll put this gem up against any movie in terms of screenplay, cinematography, acting, post-production, editing, directing, or any other aspect of film-making. It's practically perfect in all of them - a true masterpiece in a sea of faux "masterpieces."The structure of this film is easily the most tightly constructed in the history of cinema. I can think of no other film where something vitally important occurs every other minute. Quite literally, Ji-woon Kim seems to have made a movie that practically taunts the viewer to dissect it on the most detailed of levels. A seemingly insignificant object may be shown - a rack of dresses, two diaries, a drop of blood emanating from a floor crack, a bottle of pills, etc. - but upon meticulous inspection turns out to be so much more - a clue that helps to make sense of that particular scene (or perhaps the movie in total), which almost always contributes a stirring reflection upon the psychological concepts that lurk in the background until the viewer's intelligence prompts them to spring to the forefront. Such an event might occur a handful of times during any other movie, but in A Tale of Two Sisters such events occur in such a rapid-fire, relentless fashion that the viewer must watch the film in a perpetual state of alertness, lest they miss something important. In other words, the content level of this film is enough to easily fill a dozen other films. How can anyone in their right mind ask for anything more from a movie than this? It's quite simply the highest, most superlative form of cinema imaginable.The most commonly cited criticism of A Tale of Two Sisters is nicely summarized by Zaphod B Goode on IMDb, who falsely claims that the story is an incoherent, unresolved mess that uses confusion to instill a false sense of intelligence because it does not provide a final set of facts underlying the intriguing questions. He posits that Ji-woon Kim tossed up a dozen possible explanations and left it at that. In reality, however, nothing could be further from the truth. A Tale of Two Sisters provides a series of unassailably objective facts that help the viewer to identify the EXACT occurrences of each and every scene of the film. If our good friend Zaphod had been paying attention, he would have noticed - for example - the series of obvious flashbacks which provide enough factual information to make sense of the film. These flashbacks convincingly contradict Zaphod's assertion of complete subjectivity. The objective elements of A Tale of Two Sisters are so obvious to anyone willing to see them that the mere assertion of a lack of objectivity can only call into question the patience of a viewer who apparently does not want to put forth even the slightest effort whatsoever to see them. Can Ji-woon Kim really be faulted for the impatience of viewers who lack the desire to understand his film? I think not.Please note that I will not insult the intelligence of critics such as Zaphod that cannot "get" A Tale of Two Sisters, because it really has nothing to do with a lack of intelligence as much as a lack of persistence. The movie spells itself out so effectively that the only possible explanation for confusion is a lack of effort on the part of the viewer. Yes, this film does require a rather significant amount of puzzle-solving, but the pieces fit together to create a beautiful picture. You need only put them together. Remember, the screenplay was written by someone with the picture already in mind - he simply separated the pieces and placed them skillfully throughout for the purpose of providing a magnificent cerebral exercise that - when completed - bestows an ultimate form of satisfaction and state of awe.Don't misunderstand me. There are films that seem to start with an incomplete picture and try to create a puzzle that is insoluble by design. Spider Forest (2004), Perfect Blue (1998) and Donnie Darko (2001) are perfect examples of this. A Tale of Two Sisters is not. It's ironic that Zaphod claims Darko to be more masterfully constructed than A Tale of Two Sisters, especially considering that Darko not only provides almost NO objective facts but also a twist ending that is the quintessential deus ex machina cliché that could be dropped at the end of any movie ever made in order to provide the ultimate in faux intelligence. I'm ashamed of myself for mentioning the two films in the same sentence, but the contrast is an important one. Although it does perplex me that Zaphod would cite a movie that crumbles when exposed to even the slightest intellectual effort as a way of criticizing a film that only becomes discernible thru a significant application of intellectual effort. He apparently likes his "intelligent" films in the most superficial form possible. This is evident when he makes 17 consecutive questions in his review that are answered quite convincingly by the film itself. Just read the threads by Opiemar within the IMDb A Tale of Two Sisters Discussion Forum. Anyone who carefully reads those threads and still asserts a lack of an objective solution to this film may as well stop watching intelligent films altogether because the answers are so damned OBVIOUS.Just watch it. It's the greatest film ever made.