Synopsis

Mo-hwa, a tightrope walker’s daughter, bears a child fathered by the son of Choi, a local nobleman. Choi, infuriated, kills Mo-hwa’s father, while Mo-hwa, barely escaping death, goes through life’s ordeals to become a shaman. She leaves her son, Wuk, at a temple and adopts Nang, a mute, whom she will make her successor. Years later, Wuk grown up now, finds Mo-hwa but, as a Christian, he is perplexed by his mother. Nang and Wuk are drawn to each other and their forbidden love finally crosses the line. When Mo-hwa tries to make Nang a shaman through a rite, Wuk intervenes, confessing that he is a Christian, and together with Nang, he leaves his mother. Director Choi Ha-won, having already displayed his talent in adapting novels to films with his 1969 film , made another literature-adapted film from Kim Dong-ri’s same-titled novel of 1972. The conflict between characters in a collision of shamanism and Christianity is superbly depicted in this film. The heroine Yoon Jung-hee won Best Actress at the 18th Asia Pacific Film Festival.

감독

최하원

1937년 서울 출생의 최하원 감독은 연세대학교 국문과를 졸업한 뒤, 황순원 원작의 <나무들 비탈에 서다>(1968)로 장편 데뷔했다. 이 작품으로 제5회 한국연극영화예술상 신인 감독상과 제8회 영화예술상 신인감독상을 받는 등 주목을 받았으며, 이후 <독짓는 늙은이>(1969), <무녀도>(1972)와 같은 문예영화, <초대받은 사람들>과 <초대받은 성웅들>등을 통해 종교적 주제에 관심을 보였다. 영화진흥공사 진흥이사를 역임하였으며, 한국영화아카데미 주임교수로 재직한 바 있다.