I just didn't get it. Who was who? Who drowned? If the ghost was really Ji-won all along then why did she kill her friends? And what about the final scene? Who was the woman cutting the fish and why? If anyone understood this movie please help and explain it to me. Thank you!
shareHi there,
Maybe I can help.
Major Spoilers...
The way I understood it was that when Su-in and Ji-won were both in the water,their spirits switched bodies somehow.Su-in's body died,and Ji-won became trapped inside Su-in's dead body,while Su-in went inside Ji-won's body and got her wish to become her and live her life.I'm guessing Ji-Won was stuck inside Su-in's dead body at the bottom of the lake all this time waiting,until the seance at the beginning, which released Ji-won's spirit (I'm assuming this since her friends didn't start dying and everything didn't start happening until after Eun-sao's sister did the seance).I'm betting Ji-won was just waiting for a chance to come and get her body back and get back at the friends who didn't bother to help her when she was drowning.
The way I saw it,Ji-won murdered all her friends because to her they were traitors for not helping her in the lake,since they pushed her in,and they didn't do anything to help.I got the impression that Eun-sao was jealous of Ji-won being the leader of their group and always getting what she wanted.I think Ji-won knew Eun-sao was jealous of her.I mean Eun-sao didn't even bother to help Ji-won even though she was standing there watching her drown and I think Ji-won realized that Eun-sao didn't care if she drowned or not,and maybe even wanted her to drown especially when Ji-won saw Eun-sao smile before she went under the water for the last time.Because of this,and the fact that none of her friends helped her,she got real pissed at her friends.After all if they hadn't of pushed her in (or if Eun-sao had of at least helped her out)she would still be alive and not trapped in someone else's body.
The ending I think meant that Ji-won is now inside Su-in's mother (Su-in's mother was the one who worked at the fish place always cutting fish,which is why Ji-won always used to tease Su-in about the awful fish smell).She is waiting and hoping for Su-in (who is still inside her body)to come back and visit her there.
I think Ji-won thought that now that Su-in knows who she really is,and now knows she is in Ji-won's body,that Su-in would go back to see her mother at the fish place,and so Ji-won took possession of Su-in's mother so she could try to trick her and get closer to her again to try and get her body back (like Ji-won did earlier when she possessed her own mother).
I think its safe to say that since Ji-won was biting her nails at the end (which Su-in used to do) that Su-in is still inside Ji-won's body.So Ji-won didn't get her body back.Personally,I think Su-in is biting her nails because she's scared to go see her mother,and maybe even senses that Ji-won has possessed her mother,but this time she's not going to fall for it,and decides to leave for good and travel abroad like she was thinking about.Ji-won knows that her plan didn't work when she sees Su-in walk away,and knows that she may not be able to get her body back at all,and now she's stuck inside Su-in's mother,cutting up stinky fish at her job,and she's obviously pissed about it.
Thats the way I understood it so it may not be the most accurate but I hope it helped explain at least some things for you.If you have anymore questions just let me know.
Wow. Thank you for that long analysis. That really helped. I was very tired when I watched this movie and I felt the english subtitles were missing something so I didn't get it. Thank you very much!
shareClearly there was some identity swapping going on. The film would have worked better had they ended the movie a couple of minutes earlier. The identity swap may have been a big thrill for the director, but not us.
share[deleted]
Not the most accurate you say?
Sounds like you summed it up pretty fine to me!
Wow, thanks so much, I didn't get the end either but I understand it now. Thx!
shareBut eh....If su-In is stuck inside Jin-Won and Jin-Won is stuck inside Su-In's mother, then who is stuck inside Su-In? Her mother? Unlikely, because she didn't know about the body swapping. And she didn't act surprised at all.
"Rooooaaaaar!!!"
- Hulk.
If its so easy for the ghost to take bodies, i wonder why its so hard for her to take the protagonist's body lol.
shareAt the very beginning at the seance it mentioned that you need to be sure you are aware and guard yourself, or something to that extent. The reason that Ji-won was not able to get her body back was because Su-in knew that she wanted the body. The ghost could only take the body of "weak" individuals... hence Ji-won's mourning mother, and Su-in's mourning mother. FrightQueen hit it dead on imo on the ending, and... it's kind of a little ironic that she made fun of Su-in for being poor and smelling like fish, only to spend the rest of her (Su-in's mothers) life poor and smelling like fish. Now where Su-in's mother's spirit went... Probably just like Ji-won's mothers, trapped inside, only to be let out when the ghost releases her.
Overall... excellent movie. Lives up to the asian standard of "make you think" horror movies as opposed to how much sex and gore can i pack into 2 hours.
*fidget fidget*
I can't believe no-one has posted on here for so long. I saw this film today and it's great, but I am all fidgetty with no one to talk to about it. I didn't see the "Ji-won is really Su-in" thing coming at all. Splendid.
For what it's worth, at the end of the film, I think we are supposed to be left in no doubt that Su-in is in Ji-won's body (the deliberate shot of the nail-biting). But I think the rest is only hinted at to leave a sense of uncertainty - it's hinted there may be something odd about the boyfriend (his change of attitude and repeating the lines of Ji-won (as Ji-won's mother) and the apparent change in Su-in's mother. But I think its just suggestive - leaving a slight legacy of paranoia and uncertainty that might follow Su-in forever.
Sui-in is dead under in the water. her spirit is in Jin-won. No one would want to possess a body that is motionless in a lake.
shareI have a theory.. I don't think Ji-Won possessed Su-ins mother, I think she possessed the body of the boy who liked Ji-Won.. remember when he goes to see her and he hugs her and says the exact same things her mother said to her right when she started being nice... something about "I'll change now and never ever leave you"... but like I said its just a theory because clearly the lady cutting fish threw me off a bit.. I thought maybe that Su-ins mother now blamed Ji-Won for her daughters death and thats why she looked so pissed off, and Su-in inside Ji-Wons body decided not to go talk to her and walk away cuz she was afraid her mother wouldn't believe that she was really her daughter.... but I don't know. the ending of this I think is really meant for every viewer to have their own interpretation. so this one is mine.
shareMore than likely, Su-in's mother is still within her body. Jin-Won merely has possession of it now and is probably subjugating the mother's spirit. So she's inside watching, see?
shareFright queen, you are the best. We watched The Ghost tonight (as part of a string of equally disturbing Korean horror films). I must thank you for clarifying these details because we've been discussing all the possible scenarios of what actually happened here. We were close, but you have helped shed light on the most confusing aspects.
Your summary was breathtaking. Thank you fright queen. Thank you. good night.
Thanks for that, FrightQueen.
A VERY complicated movie. Perhaps too complicated? At least for people who have to read the sub-titles. I scored it 6/10.
But isnt Su-Ins suicide in the end supposed to mean that her soul finally goes to a rest?
And Su-Ins mothers look on her face in the end could mean that she is out to kill Ji-won cause she thinks Ji-Won killed her daughter?
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Apparently the filmmakers were getting too greedy about a possible sequel by leaving an open ending like that...
1. Instead of letting the suicide follow through, they had to save her and keep her alive...
2. Su-in's mother is now possessed, which implies that through the city's water supply, the evil ghost of Ji-won is capable of possessing any body she wants EXCEPT for her own since her original body has been monopolized by Su-in through Su-in's life-long wish and dying will of "becoming Ji-won".
Btw, I just thought the original Su-in (the one trapped under the lake) was much cuter than Ji-won. Why the hell would you want to be in a body owned by a b*tch? Not only was Ji-won b*tchy when she was alive, she's still a damn b*tch even after she dies, thus becoming a disgruntled spirit trapped inside the lake...
Again i think you can look at it this way as well:
Su-Ins suicide in the end is supposed to mean that her soul finally goes to a rest.
And Su-Ins mothers (not possessed) look on her face in the end could mean that she is out to kill Ji-won cause she thinks Ji-Won killed her daughter?
If you see it this way the movie has a pretty good ending i think...
Technically, that would work, too. It doesn't really matter how we like to interpret the ending. What's important is that the ending remains open-ended, leaving room for a possible sequel sometime in the future...which is always good for filmmakers...
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i think ur right
she had this revenge look, and Sui cutting her wrist maybe was to rest her soul and let ji- woon carry on living in peace.
well the ending wasa terriable. i mean, what the hell was happening.
The ending reminded me of skeleton key, but skeleton key was pretty much self explantory after watching the movie. But, those korean girls are dam cute :P
Question 1: If Su-In is in Ji-Woon's body and Ji-Woon is in Su-Ins body who is in Ji-Woons boyfriends body? At the end of the movie the boyfriend says "I will change.. I will not leave you alone," which is exactly what Ji-Woon's mom said to her.
Question 2: If Ji-Woon took control of her mother's body to get her body back what happened to her mother's soul? And the same for Su-In's mother's soul.
Just speculating. Feedback is appreciated.
Well, my interpretation would be, that due to the damage to the body caused by the suicide attempt Ji-Woon couldn't take her body back yet (risking the loss of "life" if it died), but switched to possess his boyfriend's body when he arrived to the scene in order to save her original body (now occupied by Su-In) from bleeding to death, hoping she could get that body back after its recovery. That is why the boyfriend (now possessed by Ji-Woon's spirit)is acting kinda weird and quoting the same replique as Ji-Woon's mother after her major "facelift" and change of behaviour earlier in the film. These lines are a representation of the fact, that the same vengeful spirit is now using the boy's body, hence the same figure of speach. And, of course, trying to keep her close to him, keeping her from leaving the country, in order to take her true body back in near future.
About the dilemma considering the "souls" of the possessed, I would tend to think it logical, that a living person's identity can be taken over by a wicked/restless spirit, without replacing the soul. These people are only used as tools or mediums in pursuit of succeeding in the true intention of taking the original body back. They don't need to be killed (in fact Ji-Woon's mum is still alive in the hospital after the spirit has exited her body), since they are only temporary hosts. The only one that has to die is the soul of Su-In, so that Ji-Woon's spirit could take over her own body and continue the life Su-In stole from her, and the quest would be completed.
I agree that Ji-Woon's spirit had been trapped in the dephth of the water in the river until the ouiza board session in the movie's beginning released it and brought it back. And she definetely considered her friends as traitors, so applied her own drowning death upon them. This was her first goal, the second, more important one being to get back her body and continue living in the real world instead of wanting to "rest in peace" and withdraw to the spirit realm. She was a wicked character already on earth, and the death and napping of her body made her menace grow beyond limits. Though dead, she was too greedy for life to let go of the material world, and this prevents liberation (and might lead to an eternal damnation of being trapped between two worlds without really belonging to either of them).
The part of Su-In's mother was anyhow left quite unexplained to me. I don't think she expressed hatred towards Ji-Woon's appearance in the alley because she thought she killed her daughter, though, as she is seen embracing Ji-Woon (or Su-In in Ji-Woon's body) after the body in the river was found, giving the impression she didn't know the true events of the fateful day. And the issue of the poisoned water leading to the preservation of the body might have some meaning too, but nevermind. Maybe I should have a second view or something...
YAY! thanx everybody! It makes sense now :)
shareHere’s how I saw things:
Due to her lifelong wish to become Ji-Won, Su-in possesses Ji-Won’s body, possibly at the moment where she realized Ji-Won wasn’t going to help her get her foot out of that rock.
Ji-Won (of course angry over what just transpired) possesses her mother’s body. She plays it cool long and waits for the right moment to get her own body back.
Su-in prevents the repossession by cutting her wrists. Ji-Won’s spirit doesn’t want to go back into her body just so she can die for real, so she angrily disappears. Luckily, the boyfriend was nearby to save Su-in, so Ji-Won’s body doesn’t die like she originally expected it to.
Su-in survives and is still in Ji-Won’s body, and while she officially knows who she really is now, she thinks the issue with Ji-Won’s evil spirit is over. Su-in then goes to get a glimpse of her real mother, but obviously can’t do too much since she looks like Ji-Won.
The spirit of Ji-Won knew there would be a possibility that Su-In would want to see her mother, so she possessed her body so she could again wait for the right opportunity to get her body back.
Other notes:
I don’t think anyone possessed the boyfriend, but I’ll watch it again.
Possibly due to the trauma of being possessed and throwing up all that water, Ji-Won’s mother may be out of it for a while.
When the hurly-burly's done. When the battle's lost and won.
great summary, and I only have one thing to add:
>>got the impression that Eun-sao was jealous of Ji-won being the leader of their group and always getting what she wanted.I think Ji-won knew Eun-sao was jealous of her.I mean Eun-sao didn't even bother to help Ji-won even though she was standing there watching her drown and I think Ji-won realized that Eun-sao didn't care if she drowned or not,and maybe even wanted her to drown especially when Ji-won saw Eun-sao smile before she went under the water for the last time<<
i think that's right. but also, Ji-Won convinced Su-In to take the standardized test for Eun-Sao, which would eventually get her into college. If Ji-Won is gone and Su-ni too, it was likely that nobody would find out that she cheated. Of course, it gets out somehow, because in the beginning of the film Eun-Sao's little sister says something to her to the effect of "right, go study, you didn't even get into college legally!"
Just keep telling yourself...it's only a RIP CAGE! It's only a RIP CAGE!
Sorry, but how did Eun-Sao cheat? She took the test as who....confused
shareTHANK YOU!!! I was so confused! This movie gets a higher score now since you helped!
*** Life sucks and then you die. *** And then it still sucks. *** Dead Like Meshare