User:Aitantv/Thirst, Park Chan Wook

Thirst (2009) dir. Park Chan-Wook. Single channel film, stereo sound, 02:14:00 duration. Focus Features International, South Korea.

Synopsis: Thirst (Korean: 박쥐; Bakjwi; literally "bat") is a 2009 horror film written, produced and directed by Park Chan-wook. Loosely based on the 1867 novel Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola,[3] the film stars Song Kang-ho as Sang-hyun, a Catholic priest who turns into a vampire as a result of a failed medical experiment, and falls in love with Tae-ju (Kim Ok-bin), the wife of his childhood friend (Shin Ha-kyun).
the look - seems to be muted colors but low contrast with key primary colors - namely red - really popping. A division between night and day
'the Bandaged saint' - comes back to life after failed medical experiment

feast

police chief arrives - they drink and play Mahjong - Among the new churchgoers are Kang-woo, Sang-hyun's childhood friend, and his family. Kang-woo invites his old friend to join the weekly mahjong night at his house, and there, Sang-hyun finds himself attracted to Kang-woo's wife, Tae-ju. Sang-hyun later relapses into his illness and wakes in dire need of shelter from the sunlight, having become a vampire.
LP changing sides is used to punctuate cutes - the whole scene is shot on a gib arm - shallow depth of field with focus pulling on character faces
Sang-hyun, as his symptoms flare up, is sweating he's too hot - he gets a whiff of blood and feels faint it is Tae-ju's period blood - this is the beginning of their forbidden affair, between a priest vampire and the wife of his old friend

the hospital

still in his function as 'the banadaged priest' Sang-hyun drinks blood from a comatose patient.
As vampirical cells make give him mighty strength, he feeds of the blood of others - the EV symptoms only go away when he drinks blood
the hospital is also the site in which he loses his virginity to Tae-ju. In the same sectioned off ward of the hospital as a comatose patient, they begin a slow, sensual, all-consuming sexual affair. Only after they climax and settle down does Sang-hyun reveal that he's a vampire, a shocking and terrifying discovery for Sang-hyun
there's a particularly iconic image of the the priest sucking her calussed toes while Tae-ju sucks his thumb
thus this becomes a story about consumption - thirst for blood being equated to a thirst for lust, sex.
Sang-hyun sponge bathes the comatose patient while draining his blood

the quotidian / domestic

a neutral - and largely everyday depiction of reality sets the stage for subtle interventions of the supernatural
Tae-ju has a cindarella story, a daughter who is forced to endure a life of household duties in service of her husband and menial labour in the family textile shop.
almost the whole supernatural psycho-drama takes place in an apartment
Tae-ju: "I lived as their dog my whole life. Feeding the idiot, washing him and even helping him masturbate." - total sublimation - the caregiver as hostage / the host as hostage of the guest
The husband who's murdeded haunts the newly formed vampire couple. They are both haunted by illusions of a spluttering husband soffocating under a rock, as if still drowning at the bottom of the lake where they murdered him.

monster/beast

vampires, demons, monsters, aliens, what do they have in common?
the host of the vampire cell/blood is hostage to an insatiable thirst for blood
after murdering her husband and shacking up with Sang-hyun, Tae-ju sees her world falling apart. Her mother has lost her tongue, and she's haunted by the ghost of her drowning husband. "We were a happy family of three before you infested us. You're a germ. [Spit]."
in a final mortal domestic dispute Sang-hyun strangles Tae-ju. Immediately regretting his impulsive act of violence, he attempts to resucitate her and eventually infects her with his vampirical blood to resurrect her. For the rest of the film they become a toxic vampirical duo unable to clean up the bloodbath of bodies that are piling up in their sealed off apartment.
Sang-hyun, formerly a priest, still has ethical qualms about killing people to get blood. He prefers to acquire blood through suicidal patients at the hospital. He proudly acknowledges that they feel they have purpose by offering their blood. Tae-ju on the other hand enjoys the hunt and takes great pleasure in drinking from fresh corpses: "We're human eating beasts that's what we are", relishing her predatorial instincts (from domestic servant to top predator)