Post by 𝔰𝔢𝔞𝔫𝔪𝔞𝔠𝔩𝔞𝔦𝔯 on Oct 8, 2024 0:18:41 GMT -5
Broadcast date: 1981/12/03
Cast:
- Kim Young Ae as Lee Shim
- Lee Jeong Gil as Manseok
- Father Michael Hong as Father Francis, the French ambassador
- Han In Su, Jeong Wook, Jeong Hye Seon and Go Du Shim
A 3-part drama special adapted from Claire Vautier's French travelogue + short story compilation "In Korea", published 1905. Likely to be lost (definitely not in MBC's archives). The show itself starts amidst Joseon's persecution of Catholics in the 1860s and the rise of Prince Regent Heungseon, stretching until the Gabo Reform and the eventual end of Joseon. Writer Shin Bong Seung wanted the France scenes to be filmed in Paris, but ended up having to film in a wildlife reserve park 50km away from Paris instead.
Plot:
Fictional main character Lee Shim is an orphan learning French from a French Catholic priest named Father Francis, and lives with the help of her friend Manseok, who's also pursuing priesthood. As times goes by, Manseok leaves with Father Francis to get ordained in Beijing, while Lee Shim joins the Court Music Bureau as a government courtesan. During a Royal feast at Gyeonghoe Pavilion, she reunites with Father Francis, who is now a French ambassador. He falls in love with her and offers to marry her. But Court Music Official Jo Jin Seok lusts after Lee Shim, frames her for a crime, locks her up in the State Tribunal and bails her out, only to make her a slave in his house. After some plot points I don't have, Lee Shim leaves for France with Francis, but can't seem to get used to life in France, while realizing she can never go back to Joseon - not because anyone's stopping her, but because she feels she can no longer fit into Joseon society.
The broadcast itself garnered average ratings but received some harsh criticism in the newspapers for things like:
- Fitting too much plot into what was supposed to be a short story
- Overly negative portrayals of Prince Regent Heungseon (he ordered to burn down a Catholic village in the show)
- A plotline where someone presented slave documents post-1894
- Wildly period-inaccurate sets and costuming (mid-Joseon offices/styles, Goryeo pottery)
- Period-inaccurate language use (Heungseon using Japanese loan words, most of the dialog being in modern Korean instead of sageuk tone)
Joongang Daily's criticisms included "If it weren't for the useless historical setting, one could enjoy this without burden as a Disneyland fairy tale."
