In 1944, rivals for a man's affections, Keiko and Oki, ends tragically with a pair of pink ballerina shoes as a sort of prize for the victor through a tragic act of violence. 60 years later, the pink shoes are found by an embittered wife, Sun-jae(Hye-su Kim)who happened upon her husband having sex with another woman, on a subway train(..in the opening of this movie a girl removes the shoes from the hands of another dying horribly when her feet were somehow removed from her legs!). Moving to a rather modest, depressing flat, with daughter Tae-soo(Yeon-ah Park)in tow, Sun-jae possibly finds a new love with a kind, handsome, charming young architect, In-cheol(Seong-su Kim) constructing a new building she plans to work in. But, the shoes have such an allure so volatile that Sun-jae finds herself at odds with her own daughter over them..and there's a history(..and, especially baggage)that follows them which will truly cause nightmarish complications Sun-jae could never possibly imagine.
Like a lot of these kinds of films, there's a complete backstory behind the shoes. They symbolize the tragic repercussions of adultery which will ultimately parallel Sun-jae's own story. But, more importantly, the director establishes, subtly, the results in taking what isn't yours. In this horror tale, when one takes the pink shoes from another they literally lose the feet they wear them on. This correlates with a mistress taking a husband from a wife. In the back story, it's shown that through treacherous Oki's removal of the shoes/husband from Keiko, she prospers and succeeds, but ultimately pays the price for her thievery. Circa 2004, the same goes for how the husband allows his mistress to wear Sun-jae's shoes while making love. But, there's another interesting twist that occurs between Tae-soo and Sun-jae regarding the fulfilling of roles with the shoes as a supernatural catalyst. This is a downer of a movie, I must tell you. We see how the tragedies of the past come back to haunt characters in the present. The ending, regarding the fates of those at the hands of Sun-jae, motivated by *another*, certainly left me stunned. Perhaps, it'll have the same effect with you.
It seems that this film is interpreted by people differently, so I could be absolutely wrong with my assessment with this film. Some believe that Sun-jae is one of many characters. These theories give me a head ache, so see for yourself.
Like a lot of these kinds of films, there's a complete backstory behind the shoes. They symbolize the tragic repercussions of adultery which will ultimately parallel Sun-jae's own story. But, more importantly, the director establishes, subtly, the results in taking what isn't yours. In this horror tale, when one takes the pink shoes from another they literally lose the feet they wear them on. This correlates with a mistress taking a husband from a wife. In the back story, it's shown that through treacherous Oki's removal of the shoes/husband from Keiko, she prospers and succeeds, but ultimately pays the price for her thievery. Circa 2004, the same goes for how the husband allows his mistress to wear Sun-jae's shoes while making love. But, there's another interesting twist that occurs between Tae-soo and Sun-jae regarding the fulfilling of roles with the shoes as a supernatural catalyst. This is a downer of a movie, I must tell you. We see how the tragedies of the past come back to haunt characters in the present. The ending, regarding the fates of those at the hands of Sun-jae, motivated by *another*, certainly left me stunned. Perhaps, it'll have the same effect with you.
It seems that this film is interpreted by people differently, so I could be absolutely wrong with my assessment with this film. Some believe that Sun-jae is one of many characters. These theories give me a head ache, so see for yourself.