In a luxury hotel in Hong Kong, fate pits four people against each other. Se Yeon (Choi Ji Woo) is the president of a successful company, a woman in her 40s, with an unstable personal life and poor health, but endowed with power and money. Min Woo (Lee Jung Jin!!!) is her competitor, smart and tough in business, a playboy on vacation, a respectful son and a loving father of many children at home. Both come from once friendly wealthy and powerful families. On the other rung of the social ladder is the couple Sook Hong (Kwon Sang Woo) and Hong Joo (Pak Ha Son). He is an unfortunate clerk accused of embezzling state money; she is a nurse accustomed to taking care of patients, her father, her younger brother, her husband. After a miscarriage, Hong Joo can no longer have children.
In Hong Kong, Hong Joo tries to commit suicide, either to free her husband from family obligations to her or to free himself from him. At this difficult moment for their family, Se Yeon offers Sook Hon to spend 4 days with her for $ 1 million (the amount of his debt). So begins this dramatic story, where Sook Hong and Hong Joo try to live without each other.
There are many tales about Ivans - peasant sons who married princesses, and about Cinderella with princes. But the truth of life is that rich-poor couples are formed in such a way that for a rich woman, a boyfriend from another social group serves only as a boy for recreation. In a rich husband, such a wife is often only the servant and nanny of his children. Going beyond social roles, when a boy for rest strives to become a full partner in business, and a domestic wife seeks to become a full-fledged mistress in the house, leads to difficulties and problems.
In the film, the difficulties of the characters are incommensurable. While Sook Hong "goes with the flow" and is mainly concerned about the problem - whether the mistress kicks him or "gives a bone" for merit, Hong Joo goes through all the circles of hell, dying before his eyes. In her case, drama turns into tragedy.
The series is made with good quality: landscapes, interiors, clothes of characters - everything works to create images. The details are very important. For example, Se Yeon jewelry changes in the course of development. At first, this is a rigid necklace with sharp edges - a kind of battle collar. At the end of the drama, she appears with a decorative cross - a subconscious desire to save her soul, to atone for the sin of seducing someone else's husband.
Very informative photos of Hong Joo. They show how she is changing herself. One: her husband is in hospital pajamas, and she is a nurse, kind, caring and strong. This is her favorite photo - a model, in her opinion, of a happy marriage that is failing. A moment of happiness with Min Woo and his children is a completely different model.
The main charm of this drama is that the main conflict is transferred to the sphere of feelings, inner experiences of the characters, although it takes place against the background of real events and actions. The series involves in a bright whirlpool of passions, moods and psychological shades. It throws the viewer from hopes to disappointments and again to hope.
The cast of the series pleases the eye! Interestingly, Kwon Sang Woo has already played with Choi Ji Woo in the drama Stairway to the Sky, and with Lee Jung Jin in the film Once Upon a Time in High School.
It’s a pity that “under the curtain” (in the last series), director Park Yong-soo is being dishonest with the actors. To highlight Choi Ji Woo, he reduces the performance of other actors to literally one emotion. Hypnotic restrained passion in Kwon San Woo is replaced by the oily look of a well-fed alphonse; Lee Jong Jin’s charming smile turns into a tired mask; generally deprived of the will of the director of emotions Park Ha Son, a black shadow appears on the screen.
Against this fertile background, the heroine Choi Ji Woo just blossoms: here are her happy memories, here she languishes in bed, wrinkles her mouth in a cute grimace, sheds crocodile tears: “Why do I have such a fate?” The only mistake is that the favorite heroine of the director never became my heroine.
The magic of the film dissipates. This is the case when the viewer does not agree with what is happening. The viewer desperately and passionately wants to continue this wrong story. A sequel that should end according to the laws of a beautiful fairy tale.
The bitter and instructive conclusion of the drama is that there is a simple truth: Husband and Wife are one. A union where decisions are made together and two (not one!) are responsible for them. It's from God. Everything else is just a devilish temptation.
Bottom line: An exciting novel about feelings. The film is a fairy tale with cruel moral conclusions, which simply needs a fabulous continuation.