The Widow, 1955

The only film from female director Park Nam Ok, the melodrama The Widow offers a different perspective of the female experience in postwar Korea, and a woman's struggle between duty and desire. Raising a daughter alone after the war, widow Shin (Lee Min Ja) is much indebted to her late husband's friend Seong Jin (Shin Dong Hun) but resists his romantic advances. Instead, she falls for Taek (Lee Taek Kyun), who is carrying on an affair with Seong Jin's jealous wife (Park Yeong Suk). Shin is willing to give up everything for Taek, but his heart changes again when his girlfriend returns.