IMDb RATING
6.1/10
2.5K
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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)
- 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.
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.
I didn't know anything about this being a true story, as some reviewers have said here, before watching this. As a narrative story I found this a little all over the place. I was never sure who was who and whose side they were all on, although I think that may be lost in translation and more of a 'me' thing.
The acting of the king was simply ridiculous, crazed one minute and crying the next.
The sets, the cinematography and the costumes are wonderful and although the story may be difficult at times, the film is always a delight to look at.
References to this being the Korean Caligula on the right track. This is not a film for the feint of heart.
The acting of the king was simply ridiculous, crazed one minute and crying the next.
The sets, the cinematography and the costumes are wonderful and although the story may be difficult at times, the film is always a delight to look at.
References to this being the Korean Caligula on the right track. This is not a film for the feint of heart.
A slow and overlong historical drama from South Korea, telling the story of one of that country's most sadistic kings and his mad reign. It's a little similar to CALIGULA in that respect and the king's two corrupt advisors serve to only increase the drama in the film. However, like Tinto Brass's film version of the Caligula story, this film focuses on the sexuality of the situation to its detriment. It could have been really interesting had it focused on the political intrigue in an engaging way, but instead it merely wallows in explicit sexuality and the degradation of women, which isn't something that I particularly wanted to see.
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.
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
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- Also known as
- The Treacherous
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Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $7,899,033
- Runtime2 hours 13 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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