Lies (1999)

Lies (거짓말, Gojitmal) is a controversial 1999 South Korean film depicting a sadomasochistic sexual relationship between a 38-year-old sculptor and an 18-year-old high school student. It was the debut film for both of its stars; Lee Sang-hyun is a sculptor and Kim Tae-yeon, a fashion model.

The film was adapted from a South Korean novel by Jang Jung-il that was banned immediately after publication in 1996 and earned the author several months in prison; director Jang Sun-wu had previously filmed one of Jang's novels. Excerpts from interviews with the author and cast, in addition to post-cut footage, are sometimes inserted between scenes. The film features full-frontal male and female nudity.

Synopsis

A high school senior, Y, is friends with another girl who has struck up a correspondence with a middle-aged artist, J. After talking to him on the phone, and determined not to lose her virginity through rape as her two sisters did, she decides to have sex with him and a meeting is arranged at a cheap motel. They have sex almost as soon as they enter the motel; though she is a virgin they have oral and anal sex. In their next rendezvous he tells her about his interest in sadomasochism and she allows him to beat her on her buttocks before they have sex again.

Actors