A tale of two sisters movie#

Chekhov's Gun: The photographs, the scissors Su-mi uses to cut open the sack, and, of course, the wardrobe.

Catapult Nightmare: Su-mi, following the 'ghost in the bedroom' night terror.

Her non-responsiveness at the hospital would even suggest she's become an Empty Shell.

Broken Bird: Su-mi is traumatized from having her mother and sister taken away from her on the same day.

Body Horror: The burned appearance of the girl under the sink, and the hand emerging from between the ghost's legs.

Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Eun-ju, especially after The Reveal.

Big Fancy House: Much of the film is set in the girls' vast family home.

Big Bad: The real Heo Eun-ju caused Su-mi's mental break by letting Su-yeong die.

Ax-Crazy: Eun-ju near the end of the film.

As it turns out, there is a ghost in the house after all, but it is unclear just how many of the unsettling events in the house were influenced by it.

It is never made quite clear if Su-mi is actually aware that Eun-ju left her sister to die after their brief altercation in the hallway.

Additionally, assuming that they were romantically involved, it isn't clear if they actually did get married, as the girls seem to assume, or if it was a fling that has since ended.

It's never made entirely clear if Moo-hyeon and Eun-ju were actually having an affair, or if it was merely an assumption by the girls and their mother.

A tale of two sisters movie#

It was left to be intentionally ambiguous as to whether or not the scene is a flashback to the day she was admitted after Su-yeon and their mother died or if it is a flashforward after she has her mental breakdown in the house later in the movie and is re-admitted to the institution. The film opens with a scene where Soo-mi is in the mental institution and is questioned by the doctor about the day she was admitted, which she refuses to answer.

Coinciding with their return home, however, are several eerie and frightening events (doors opening by themselves, bizarre apparitions, strange sounds, and terrifying nightmares, amongst other things), and it quickly becomes uncertain if these events are real, a product of the girls' disturbed mental states, or the cruel mind games played by Eun-ju. They frequently clash with their new stepmother (formerly their mother's nurse), Eun-ju, who behaves in an incredibly difficult manner around them (and who becomes increasingly cruel and erratic over the course of the film). The film centers around two teenage sisters, the older Su-mi and the younger Su-yeon, returning to their father Moo-hyeon's house after a stay in a mental institution following the death of their terminally ill mother. An American remake titled The Uninvited was released in 2009 В— not to be confused with a completely different Korean horror film from 2003 also titled The Uninvited, nor the 1944 American film of that name. The film is inspired by a Joseon Dynasty folktale entitled Janghwa Hongryeon jeon, which has been adapted to film several times.

It is both the highest-grossing Korean horror film and the first to be screened in American theatres. A Tale of Two Sisters (aka Janghwa, Hongryeon, literally Rose Flower, Red Lotus) is a 2003 South Korean psychological horror film by Kim Ji-woon.