Portrait of a Beauty is a 2008 South Korean film directed by Jeon Yoon-soo. Adapted from the novel Painter of the Wind by Lee Jeong-myeong, the film portrays Joseon-era painter Shin Yoon-bok (better known by his pen name, Hyewon) as a being a woman disguised as a man. Sin Yoon-bok is a painter from the 18th century who is famous for his erotic and satirical paintings. In particular, ‘Beauty Island’ or ‘Miindo’ is a representative Korean belle painting similar in its mystery to Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ and Vermeer’s ‘Girl with the Pearl Earring.’ However, except for a family pedigree, no documents relating to the painter's life exists in the present day. “Portrait of a Beauty” aka “Miindo,” is a film that was based on a fictional story about Shin Yoon-bok’s prohibited love affair with the model of the miindo, and the price he had to pay with the vindictive punishment he received and the destruction of his documents.
Born to a family of established court painters, seven-year-old Yun-jeong is a young girl gifted at painting. However, the pressure is on her brother to carry on the proud family tradition, as women aren’t allowed to become professional painters. While her brother trains to take his place in the court, Yun-jeong helps him out by secretly painting for him. The little girl’s life is turned upside down when her brother kills himself.
In order to preserve the family honor, she is forced to take her brother’s name and lives as a man. Yun-bok’s genius and talent captures the heart of another great master of the time, Kim Hong-do. But her daring depictions of women are condemned by the royal institute as obscene. Yun-bok meets Kang-mu and falls deeply in love. For the first time, she feels the strong desire to abandon everything she has built and simply be a woman in front of the man she loves. Kang-mu sacrifices all for his love as well. Kim Hong-do, who loved the genius of his best student, ends up loving everything about her, and Seol-hwa, a Gisaeng at the courtesan house, possesses a love for Hong-do that turns into fatal jealousy. The secret behind Shin Yun-bok’s masterpiece, Portrait of a Beauty, is finally revealed after 250 years of silence.
A major television network has also followed suit by launching a drama series of the same title based on the novel. Both the novel and the drama are based on a wild supposition that Hyewon was a woman disguised as a man. This film also will paint him as a woman who trying to hide as a man, as a way to overcome the discrimination in heavily Neo-Confucian Joseon. This recent trend that depicted this painter as a woman, might be the result of his girlish penname “Hyewon” which meaning “a garden full with orchids” and his frequent portrayals of women. “The Portrait of a Beauty" itself seems to be a latecomer in the Hyewon frenzy, but the director Jeon who well known with his blockbuster "Le Grand Chef" (2007) which sold about 3 million tickets, set about the project several months earlier than the television adaptation.
Some Special Features included in the disc:
- Making of
- Production Design Featurette
- Costume Design Featurette
- Deleted Scenes with Director Commentary
- Poster Shoot
- Music Video
- Trailer
BUY PORTRAIT OF A BEAUTY ON YESASIA.
Born to a family of established court painters, seven-year-old Yun-jeong is a young girl gifted at painting. However, the pressure is on her brother to carry on the proud family tradition, as women aren’t allowed to become professional painters. While her brother trains to take his place in the court, Yun-jeong helps him out by secretly painting for him. The little girl’s life is turned upside down when her brother kills himself.
In order to preserve the family honor, she is forced to take her brother’s name and lives as a man. Yun-bok’s genius and talent captures the heart of another great master of the time, Kim Hong-do. But her daring depictions of women are condemned by the royal institute as obscene. Yun-bok meets Kang-mu and falls deeply in love. For the first time, she feels the strong desire to abandon everything she has built and simply be a woman in front of the man she loves. Kang-mu sacrifices all for his love as well. Kim Hong-do, who loved the genius of his best student, ends up loving everything about her, and Seol-hwa, a Gisaeng at the courtesan house, possesses a love for Hong-do that turns into fatal jealousy. The secret behind Shin Yun-bok’s masterpiece, Portrait of a Beauty, is finally revealed after 250 years of silence.
A major television network has also followed suit by launching a drama series of the same title based on the novel. Both the novel and the drama are based on a wild supposition that Hyewon was a woman disguised as a man. This film also will paint him as a woman who trying to hide as a man, as a way to overcome the discrimination in heavily Neo-Confucian Joseon. This recent trend that depicted this painter as a woman, might be the result of his girlish penname “Hyewon” which meaning “a garden full with orchids” and his frequent portrayals of women. “The Portrait of a Beauty" itself seems to be a latecomer in the Hyewon frenzy, but the director Jeon who well known with his blockbuster "Le Grand Chef" (2007) which sold about 3 million tickets, set about the project several months earlier than the television adaptation.
Some Special Features included in the disc:
- Making of
- Production Design Featurette
- Costume Design Featurette
- Deleted Scenes with Director Commentary
- Poster Shoot
- Music Video
- Trailer
BUY PORTRAIT OF A BEAUTY ON YESASIA.
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