The Scarlet Letter- The Scarlet
Letter is a murder-mystery about tough detective who gets
entangled in a mysterious homicide case. The victim is found
with his skull smashed, and the only potential suspect is
the man’s “perfect wife”. The detective
starts to suspect that the woman is having an affair. The
detective is also married to a “perfect wife”
who is chaste and devoted. His wife is pregnant, but that
doesn’t stop him from carrying on a steamy affair
with a sultry nightclub singer. Things get even more complicated
when the mistress learns she’s also pregnant. In a
strange twist, we later learn that both wife and mistress
are old childhood friends. The story takes several unexpected
turns and leads to a bizarre and tragic climax.
In real life, this movie also had a tragic ending. ‘The
Scarlet Letter’ was poised to be a big hit the box
office because of it’s stellar cast and titillating
plot, but the movie only grossed average revenues and was
met with mixed reviews. Lee Eun-Joo, the lead actress, was
a talented woman whose star was on the rise after her break
out role in the mega hit Tagegukki. Her career was on the
line when she agreed to take on this intense and sexually
explicit role. The rumor was that she starved herself for
the role because there were several semi-nude scenes where
her back was exposed. Though her acting was critically acclaimed,
Lee Eun-Joo was known to be mentally unstable. She suffered
from bouts of depression after her mother racked up a huge
gambling debt which the actress was forced to pay. Who knows
what crazy things were going on behind the scenes of the
real actress’ life? Sometime after the movie was released,
Lee Eunjoo was found hanging dead in her closet at home.
The cause of death was suicide. Could her intense role in
The Scarlet Letter have had something to do with her suicide?
Nobody knows the answer, but she’s left us with a
haunting movie that we’ll never forget.
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