IMDb RATING
6.1/10
2.5K
YOUR RATING
The story of Joseon's tyrant king Yeonsan who exploits the populace for his own carnal pleasures, his seemingly loyal retainer who controls him and all court dealings, and a woman who seeks ... Read allThe story of Joseon's tyrant king Yeonsan who exploits the populace for his own carnal pleasures, his seemingly loyal retainer who controls him and all court dealings, and a woman who seeks vengeance.The story of Joseon's tyrant king Yeonsan who exploits the populace for his own carnal pleasures, his seemingly loyal retainer who controls him and all court dealings, and a woman who seeks vengeance.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 6 nominations total
Moon Hee-kyung
- Discipline sanggung
- (as Moon Hee-kyeong)
Kim Hyeon-soo
- Dan-hee (teen)
- (as Kim Hyun-soo)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
When people think of 'The Treacherous', they think of eroticism in the movie. However, visual directing should be praised more. Use of water and the color red is very well thought out and appropriate. Costumes and settings show traditional Korea in a sexiest way possible. However, too much focus on sex scene and unnecessary nude scene can downgrade the quality of the movie. It had so much potential to be historical drama but stay being an erotic art film.
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The Treacherous (2015) (South Korean Drama).
After being engulfed with insanity and revenge, a prince demands beautiful women (regardless of age, marriage status, or social class) to be rounded up for his personal pleasure – this caused widespread anger in the kingdom. One of the would-be sex slaves makes an impression, but his long-time friend also has eyes for her. This film has some serious balls, and will likely offend many viewers with its immoral male characters, its wild tonal shifts, and its depiction of women (who inexplicably become very willing to be sex slaves once they enter the palace). However, this is way more interesting than one might think. Although this is primarily a drama, it does have a few highly entertaining doses of humor. There's a lengthy, hilarious "training" sequence where the women are formally educated in the art of sexual pleasure. The prince is a psycho nutcase, which provides some entertainment value in itself. Of course, there are some disturbing moments of graphic violence mixed in, which creates those oddly captivating tonal shifts. Despite the plethora of sexual references, there are only a small handful of sex scenes shown (one of which is a fairly graphic girl-on-girl intercourse). Performances are solid; the story and characters have an engaging dynamic. This film is beautifully shot and has a great visual style about it, with outstanding production values and set designs. A particularly abrasive film from South Korea, but I couldn't stop watching.
The Treacherous (2015) (South Korean Drama).
After being engulfed with insanity and revenge, a prince demands beautiful women (regardless of age, marriage status, or social class) to be rounded up for his personal pleasure – this caused widespread anger in the kingdom. One of the would-be sex slaves makes an impression, but his long-time friend also has eyes for her. This film has some serious balls, and will likely offend many viewers with its immoral male characters, its wild tonal shifts, and its depiction of women (who inexplicably become very willing to be sex slaves once they enter the palace). However, this is way more interesting than one might think. Although this is primarily a drama, it does have a few highly entertaining doses of humor. There's a lengthy, hilarious "training" sequence where the women are formally educated in the art of sexual pleasure. The prince is a psycho nutcase, which provides some entertainment value in itself. Of course, there are some disturbing moments of graphic violence mixed in, which creates those oddly captivating tonal shifts. Despite the plethora of sexual references, there are only a small handful of sex scenes shown (one of which is a fairly graphic girl-on-girl intercourse). Performances are solid; the story and characters have an engaging dynamic. This film is beautifully shot and has a great visual style about it, with outstanding production values and set designs. A particularly abrasive film from South Korea, but I couldn't stop watching.
Well pun aside (sorry for that or not), it is not always the case that it gets better with more. You have more to choose from sure, but you have to make sure to please everyone (on another pun, but I just had to, right?).
This may feel like it has a lot of - not sure how to put it ... let's say the Treacherous and 10000 concubines does sound like there is going to be a lot of nudity and more. While there is more than a fair amount of nudity and sexual situations (including thigh crushing action, which unfortunately never really gets paid off), this also has a lot of action too. Which includes blood and violence - of course there have been way more explicit movies in both regards. But combining those two things (with historical setting), may not be everyones cup of tea.
Korean movies have no issue to show more than just violence - and they do make really good movies. This may not be the best they've done, but if you do like the Eastern genre, you will like the movie too. I watched the longer cut (not sure what was cut from the theatrical cut), so not sure how this will compare to the shorter cut, if you watch that.
This may feel like it has a lot of - not sure how to put it ... let's say the Treacherous and 10000 concubines does sound like there is going to be a lot of nudity and more. While there is more than a fair amount of nudity and sexual situations (including thigh crushing action, which unfortunately never really gets paid off), this also has a lot of action too. Which includes blood and violence - of course there have been way more explicit movies in both regards. But combining those two things (with historical setting), may not be everyones cup of tea.
Korean movies have no issue to show more than just violence - and they do make really good movies. This may not be the best they've done, but if you do like the Eastern genre, you will like the movie too. I watched the longer cut (not sure what was cut from the theatrical cut), so not sure how this will compare to the shorter cut, if you watch that.
The overall feeling is on the third level. I'm not familiar with the history of the stick, I don't know what exaggeration is. The whole film reflects the political characteristics through red-picking and coup. As long as the wind turns fast, it will always be a winner. The rhythm and pictures are good, but the plot always feels very fast, and there are always some inexplicable background sounds in the source of the movie, which seriously affects the viewing.
This film is not an erotica for me. The mood is dark and morbid. The characters are not redeemable and most of the film is extremely violent. It was a difficult watch for me and I would not recommend this to someone seeking erotica. The story itself was intriguing and makes you want to finish the movie but curb your expectations.
Did you know
- TriviaLee Yoo-young said having to film her lesbian kissing scene with Lim Ji-yeon worried her at first because she had never kissed another woman before. But once they began filming, she became more comfortable with it and actually enjoyed it.
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- The Treacherous
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $7,899,033
- Runtime
- 2h 13m(133 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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