South Korea Synopsis
미인도
Born to a family of established court painters, seven-year-old Yoon-jeong is a young girl gifted at painting. However, the pressure is on her brother to carry on the proud family tradition, as women aren’t allowed to become professional painters. While her brother trains to take his place in the court, Yoon-jeong helps him out by secretly painting for him. The little girl’s life is turned upside down when her brother kills himself. In order to preserve the family honor, she is forced to take her brother’s name and lives as a man. Yun-bok’s genius and talent captures the heart of another great master of the time, Kim Hong-do. But her daring depictions of women are condemned by the royal institute as obscene. Yun-bok meets Kang-mu and falls deeply in love. For the first time, she feels the strong desire to abandon everything she has built and simply be a woman in front of the man she loves. Kang-moo sacrifices all for his love as well.
The 2007–2009 South Korea Window
105 South Korea films released in this three-year window, ranked here by audience rating. Portrait of a Beauty sits at position #63.
Other Titles From CJ Entertainment
The 2000s South Korea Landscape
Catalog density by release year in the 2000s. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Portrait of a Beauty premiered. 321 total titles in this decade from South Korea.
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #1,092 of 1,397 South Korea films indexed here (22nd percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is -0.7 points below the South Korea average of 6.9/10.
Among South Korea Drama productions specifically: #726 of 868 (top 84%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | South Korea |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Korean |
| Production Companies | CJ Entertainment, Iroom Pictures, Yedang Entertainment, Sponge |
| Runtime | 1h 48m |
| Release Date | November 13, 2008 |
| IMDb | tt1330206 |