Ending

that is the problem with a good basis and bad film making (way of filming is soooo commun...): you are right the acting was good...but it does not help the movie a lot; the cinematography was awefull...( and that is very rare in korea film making)

anyway about the ending : it's not important to know if she's alone or not, she has one kid and will have another one..maybe we're in korea maybe not...i just don't feel that the movie makes us want to know more about the situation..it just don't worth the effort in my opinion.

sorry for bad english

cya !

it doesn't matter where she is and who she's with... she's happy. that's all it matters.

I assumed she was in Korea with the deported immigrant, because of the scene fading from the beach photo in his apartment to real life AND because her son had a Korean name, not like her husband's Americanized name. I think her husband's insistence on abortion and his threat of violence against her turned her against him (plus her love of the immigrant decided her towards him).

I disagree with the commenter about the cinematography - I thought the film looked lovely.

My very little quibble was not being able to figure out where she and Andrew were living in relation to Chinatown, plus that the illegal guy would more likely be living in Flushing Queens' Asian neighborhood than in Manhattan. I figured she might be in Brooklyn or Queens to take a cab in the city, but not clear.

My wife was confused by the ending but I agree that she went with her lover to Korea. The second pregnancy, the beach that was like the one in the picture, the phone call from jail and the ring all brought me to the same conclusion. Also in the end credits the word Never fades and and the word Forever seems to linger longer than necessary. I did find the theory about her being in heaven an interesting take, however. A riveting film and Vera Farmiga is always good.

Did anyone notice the use of the red and Jihah throughout the movie. He wore a red shirt in almost every scene, red motorcycle, Chinatown, etc... The last scene of the movie she was knitting with the color red and placed it across her stomach as if to imply that the current pregnancy was also from Jihah. Also the child on the beach had a red shirt on. I think it all meant she left her husband and fled to Korea. After he tried to make her miscarry on the stairs I think she knew what she wanted to do and that was be with Jihah.

I as think she was with the immigrant because she was knitting something using that nice orangeish red which he is typically dressed in through the film notably the scene where she imagines him visiting at their "celebration"

I absolutely agree with one of the other commentators. Who cares? It was a movie with a bunch of cliches and it was just so predictable. I don't think the producers had any idea on how to finish it, so that's why the ending was so cheesy. The only good thing was Vera Farmiga's acting.

From an interview with Gina Kim, writer and director:

"I think it is quite clear that the baby in Sophie’s belly is Jihah’s, but I didn’t want to show Jihah, because it would diffuse the real question. For me, the real question was “Is she happy? Did she achieve what she wanted?,” not “Who is she with?”— which differentiates this film from the typical melodrama."

http://theunarchivable.blogspot.com/2007/11/interview-with-gina-kim-director-of.html