The King and the Clown (2005, South Korea)

This is a most moving and powerful tragic drama, essentially about two men who are travelling players. In Korea in the sixteenth century, they perform acrobatics and playlets to earn a living.The men are Jang-sang (Woo-seong Kam) and Gong-gil (Jun-gi Lee); Jang-sang is the brains of the duo, and Gon-gil plays the girls' roles. He looks very girly bodily, and has girlish ways, and I think he would be a transsexual if living today.

They pick up some other actors and they put on a satirical play, criticising the King and his sexual habits, and when the King's minister sees this, they are ordered to be punished. Jang-sang asks to be allowed to perform the play for the King, saying that he is sure he will like it, and the minister agrees, warning that they will die if the King doesn't like it.

They put the play on, and after a tense few minutes, the King laughs and commands that they be admitted to the royal palace and given food and rooms to sleep in. We begin to see that the King, although he has hereditary rights and rules as a despot, has a child-like sense of fun, and he giggles at trivial entertainments, then ordering men's heads to be cut off.

The King has also taken a sexual interest in Gong-gil and orders him to be brought to the royal bedchamber, where sexual activity takes place. Jang-sang is unhappy with this, as the two men are close friends; we don't know whether they are lovers too. But Gong-gil is honoured publicly by the King.

All this disturbs the stability of the ministers' system of government, and the royal concubines are displeased too, so that we can guess that it is only a matter of time before disaster overtakes the troupe. In fact it is the King's capricious behaviour that triggers the tragic, and inevitable, end of the film.

Beautifully photographed and with sensitive handling of the sexuality issues, this is a first-class film from South Korea, deserving the highest praise.

The original title is Wang-ui namja.

HF May 2007

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