Director Jin Ronghua has always been known for directing heartwarming comedies, and his films can make you laugh and cry the next. "Beauty Troubles" has the typical characteristics of golden movies, laughter and tears are always lurking around the audience, and there is a possibility of detonation at any time.
But Jin Ronghua's films are far from limited to these. In Korea, he has been trying to challenge social prejudice against disability. For example, in his debut work "Oh! There are young men with physical disabilities in Brothers, and in The Troubles of Beauty, it is the film's heroine, the ugly Hannah.
Hannah is played by Kim Ah Joong, a character who is said to take four hours to prepare a special outfit each time, and spend an hour removing makeup after filming. This is a girl who weighs 95kg and looks like a sumo wrestler. It is a pity that she has a good voice given to her by God because of her fatness and ugliness. So, Hannah can only bury her desire to be a singer in her heart, hide behind the scenes, and become the backing vocalist of beautiful singer Ami.
In love, Hannah was also hit by her appearance. She has a crush on Han Sang-joon, a handsome record producer. Unrequited love, she planned to find a chance to confess, but at Shang Jun's birthday party, she overheard Ami and Shang Jun's conversation by chance, and learned about Shang Jun's dislike of his appearance. Desperate Hannah attempted suicide, but in the end she opted for plastic surgery and disappeared without a trace. Until a year later, an impeccable looking beauty Jenny appeared...
It seems that the film is telling a romantic story of an ugly duckling turning into a white swan, but the truth is more than that. Jin Ronghua gave the film the possibility of multiple interpretations. Through Hannah's transformation, the audience can read about different topics such as plastic surgery, love, soul, and human nature.
Floating on the surface, of course, is the topic of cosmetic surgery. Appearance supremacy in the current Korean entertainment industry and even the whole society has almost reached its peak. Even elementary school students suffer from depression because of their mediocre appearance. In Korea, beauty is a "power", especially for women, whether they want to admit it or not. Although everyone emphasizes the beauty of the soul, but you know from the way people look at beautiful women, this is all nonsense. "The Troubles of Beauty" is about this cruel law. In the film, plastic surgery is the only hope for Hannah to survive. I remember when Hannah handed over her life to a plastic surgeon, she said, "You can end her, or you can save her." The truth is: Jenny after plastic surgery has fulfilled Hannah's unfulfilled wish to become a singer, and won the favor of Han Sang-joon.
In the film, another deeper theme related to plastic surgery, but also a more conventional theme, is that the film explores the topic of "beauty".
After plastic surgery, Jenny was reborn and flawless, but she was limited by her appearance, gradually distanced herself from friends, abandoned her father, and lost herself. Ugly Hannah is ugly, but she is simple, natural, loving and helpful. Comparing the two, the director's intention is simple and clear. In the movie, Jenny burns the photo of Hannah before plastic surgery, which is also a metaphor for Jenny to lose the most innocent side of Hannah. But fortunately, when Jenny realized these problems, revealed her heart at her concert, and admitted her mistakes, the director finally gave the film a happy ending: Jenny was not cast aside for telling the truth, she won more fans.
As a comedy, "Beauty Troubles" has a lot of dark humor that makes you laugh. From the beginning of Hannah's clumsy destruction of the fortune teller's belongings, to the end of the film, her friend who always despised plastic surgery had to undergo full-body plastic surgery. But, behind the laughter, the film also has poignant moments that are deliberately rendered. Jenny's true monologue at the concert, I believe many audiences will cry in a mess after watching it.
Since its release in December 2006, "Beauty Troubles" has become the highest-grossing comedy in South Korea's history, and won three awards at the 44th Korea Grand Bell Awards on June 8 this year. It can be said that the film shows the high level of current Korean entertainment films, and properly follows the Korean-style sensational principle. It uses the fate of several protagonists to capture the hearts of the audience and finally sublimate the main plot! (Zong Xiaopi)
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