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SCMP Reporter

Starring: Lee Byung-heon,  Kim Hyo-jin,   Choi Ji-woo,  Choo Sang-mi

Director: Jang Hyun-soo

Category: IIB (Chinese and English subtitles)

Thanks to  the likes of Happy End and The Isle, Korean films have acquired a reputation for  their bold portrayals of sex. Everybody Has Secrets  doesn't let the side down - albeit it in a  tamer, more lighthearted way.

Directed by Jang Hyun-soo, the  romantic comedy follows the love affairs of handsome art gallery owner Su-hyun (Lee Byung-heon) with three sisters. The youngest,  Han Mi-young (Kim Hyo-jin), a jazz singer with a liberal approach to love, thinks she's found Mr Right in Su-hyun.  Second sister Sun-young (Choi Ji-woo), a bookish student who's still a virgin at 27, is struck by  Su-hyun's manners and knowledge of literature.  The eldest, Jin-young (Choo Sang-mi),  a  bored housewife and mother, finds  Su-hyun irresistible.

The film is divided into three  parts, each  dealing with Su-hyun's sizzling affairs with one  of the sisters - it's a bit like  watching a master class on the art of seduction.  With the effortless flair  of a skilled artist, he lures each of these  different women to bed.

All of which might strike some women  as annoying if the film wasn't so consistently amusing.  Its examination of the anxieties of contemporary women are often hilarious -  and you can't help but enjoy  it, even if it's with  a sense of guilty pleasure.

There's  little nudity - the fun of the  film is  in its gleeful treatment of  adultery, rather than from any gratuitous displays.  To the protagonists, there's no guilt - just pleasure. Each  sister  learns something about love, or experiences  a sexual awakening.  The transformation of  Sun-young - brilliantly played by Choi with  a natural comical flair - from a conservative, nerdy young woman into a sexual tigress is particularly  amusing.

Korean filmmakers are known for being great storytellers, and Jang is no exception.

The film has its flaws, particularly in its characterisations.  We know little about the three sisters apart from their different attitudes towards sex and love, and this weakens the dramatic effect of the ending, which champions the rights of women in their pursuit  of sexual pleasures.

Everybody Has Secrets isn't a great sex comedy, but it  certainly comes close.

Everybody Has Secrets opens today



Everybody Has Secrets