Worth: $13.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Ye Soo-jung, Ki Joo-bong, Kim Jung-ki, Gi Ju-bong
Intro:
…a distinctly human film about a difficult subject.
Though a delicate film in terms of pace, colour and performances, An Old Lady manages to explore two sensitive topics – rape and elder abuse – and how they are perceived not just in Korea, but the wider global community.
Directed by Lim Sun-ae, the film follows Hyo-jeong (Ye Soo-jung, Train to Busan), a 69 year old woman currently receiving treatment following surgery. Tragically, during one of her sessions, she is raped by a nursing assistant, Joong-ho (Kim Jung-ki). Using a blank screen and audio, the audience is only ever privy to the lead up to the assault, but we are never left in any doubt. However, when Hyo-jeong tries to do the right thing and bring Joong-ho to justice, she is met with constant obstacles.
Starting when she doesn’t fill in the correct form at the police station, Hyo-jeong is treated with scepticism, with one detective even raising doubts that a young man would want to assault someone of her advanced age. This is just one of the many ways An Old Lady shows how the elderly can be treated as asexual non-entities, than the fully rounded human beings that they all are. While Hyo-jeong doesn’t seem to deny that she’s getting old, her assault brings all her fears into sharp relief. Her memory is picked apart by the police for not being as sharp as it once was, as if somehow she doesn’t really know what happened. Even armed with evidence, Hyo-jeong’s case is seemingly dismissed when Joong-ho spins a tale of consensual sex.
The only person who believes Hyo-jeong is her flatmate, Dong-in (Gi Ju-bong, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance), a bookseller whose youthful years are also behind him. With the police unable to prosecute Joong-ho, Dong-in takes it upon himself to crack the case and get justice for his friend. Whilst both leads give strong performances, the film’s biggest misstep seems to be in handing Hyo-jeong’s story over to her male friend. This isn’t his trauma and, at times, it feels like agency is being taken away from our female lead. Admittedly, it could be argued that this is a deliberate ploy by the film to show Dong-in throwing himself into the situation feet first without really understanding how best to support his friend.
Neither portraying Hyo-jeong as a weak-willed victim, nor an OAP with an inhuman ability to not let what’s happened phase her, An Old Lady is a distinctly human film about a difficult subject. Given the current state of the world, the film serves as reminder that women of any age can be in danger from predators and that the elderly are not second class citizens that just fade away.
