''The Taste of Money'' () is a 2012 South Korean

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...

thriller film about a conglomerate-owning family. It triggered controversy and hype with its portrayal of the lives of the privileged in Korean society, exploring themes of sex and money, greed and ambition. A decadent and sensational film that presents biting commentary on the rich and famous, it is Im Sang-soo's seventh film.

Plot

In a luxurious house outside

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

lives one of the country's richest families: company president Yoon, his wife Baek Geum-ok, their divorced daughter Nami, and son Chul. Yoon is company president but the reins of power are held by his wife Geum-ok, whose aged father was once a powerful businessman, and whom Yoon married for her money and influence. Yoon's private secretary is Joo Young-jak, from humble origins. His current job is making sure a U.S. businessman, Robert Altman, is kept happy with hookers, as part of a major business deal that could prove crucial to the family's fortunes. When Geum-ok sees Yoon having an affair with their Filipina maid, Eva, on her hidden

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

, she beds Young-jak in revenge. When Chul is arrested for organizing a

slush fund A slush fund is a fund or account used for miscellaneous income and expenses, particularly when these are corrupt or illegal. Such funds may be kept hidden and maintained separately from money that is used for legitimate purposes. Slush funds m ...

for Altman, Geum-ok decides to further punish her husband for his "mistake" in bringing the family's name into public disrepute, by having Eva killed. At the same time, Nami and Young-jak, start an affair. Yoon commits

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

over Eva's death (and takes the blame for his son's activities). After his funeral, Young-jak quits the family, glad to be rid of their influences. He accompanies Eva's coffin to the Philippines, where he is joined on the plane by Nami.

Cast

Kim Kang-woo Kim Kang-woo (; born July 11, 1978), who debuted in 2002. He is known for his work in various fields such as movies, dramas, and theater, and is a graduate of Chung-Ang University's Department of Theater and Film. He is best known from his roles ...

as Joo Young-jak *

Youn Yuh-jung Youn Yuh-jung (, ; born June 19, 1947) is a South Korean actress, whose career in film and television spans over five decades. Her accolades include an Academy Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, British Academy Film Award, and Independent Spir ...

as Baek Geum-ok * Baek Yoon-sik as Chairman Yoon * Kim Hyo-jin as Yoon Nami * On Joo-wan s Yoon Chul/Charlie * Maui Taylor as Eva * Kwon Byung-gil as Noh, Geum-ok's father * Hwang Jung-min as Noh's assistant * Darcy Paquet as Robert Altman * Kal So-won as Ri-ni

Themes

''The Taste of Money'' first and foremost explores the corrupting influence of money. It is the spiritual

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

of Im's previous film, he calls it "an extension of '' The Housemaid''. You can say that it’s the story of the children of '' The Housemaid'' who've grown up." It is his exploration of the world outside the household portrayed in that movie – "What Hoon does outside the home, what kind of parents he has, an expansion of the scope of '' The Housemaid''." At the end of ''The Housemaid'', a young girl Nami is in shock at witnessing the suicide of her nanny Eun-yi. Fully grown up as a divorcée with a child of her own, Nami is now a main character in this film. She is the only member of the family with a moral sense. If ''The Housemaid'' asserted through a self-immolating woman the impossibility of overturning the classes, ''The Taste of Money'' asks the question of whether a beautiful and happy life really might be impossible in a dark society. The conclusion seems to be that money makes it impossible live a happy life, and makes one troubled and abusive even to those nearest.

Production

At 64,

appears in her first on-camera sex scene, a quite unexpected requirement for the actress. "I didn't know there was such a scene when I began," Yoon said. "After I found out, I was really surprised and asked the director, 'Don't you think the audience would be offended to see an old woman naked on screen?'" "The director answered, 'I wrote in the scene intending on that very thing.'"

Release

Cannes

The film was invited to screen in competition at the

2012 Cannes Film Festival The 65th Cannes Film Festival took place from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti was the president of the jury for the main competition. French actress Bérénice Bejo hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. Austrian filmma ...

, where it received the lowest mark out of the 22 works vying for the

Palme d'Or The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...

according to

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

, which aggregates reviews of the most respected critics worldwide. Before and after the closing ceremony, director Im Sang-soo said to various Korean media that his failure to win was a personal "tragedy" and his participation a mistake because he was telling a "very Korean story" that foreigners can't understand.

Critical reception

When released in the United States, ''The Taste of Money'' received mixed to negative reviews; it currently holds a 32% "rotten" rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a "normalized" scale to rate films, the film has a 54/100 rating, indicating "mixed or average reviews". A positive review comes from A.O. Scott of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', who blurbs: "Even as ''The Taste of Money'' swerves toward a frantic climax and a sentimental denouement, it remains intriguing. It feeds an insatiable curiosity about how the other half – or, in current parlance, the 1 percent – lives, and what it shows us is gorgeous, grotesque and disconcertingly human."

Box office

Since its theatrical release on 17 May 2012, the film has grossed over 7.9 billion Korean won (around 6.8 million U.S. dollars), occupying 33% of the domestic box office sales as of 29 May, according to the Korea Box Office Information System (KOBIS). Fifteen foreign distributors have also bought its distribution rights at the film market during the

, among them IFC Midnight, which acquired the film's North American rights.

Awards and nominations

;

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Buil Film Awards * Best Music – Kim Hong-jib * Nomination – Best Supporting Actress – Kim Hyo-jin * Nomination – Best Supporting Actress –

* Nomination – Best Cinematography – Kim Woo-hyung * Nomination – Best Art Direction – Kim Yeong-hee, Kim Joon

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taste of Money, The 2012 films 2012 psychological thriller films South Korean erotic thriller films 2010s Korean-language films 2010s Tagalog-language films Films directed by Im Sang-soo Films set in Seoul Films about adultery 2010s erotic thriller films Lotte Entertainment films 2012 drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s South Korean films English-language erotic thriller films