An illicit student-teacher affair in Misbehavior

Monday, December 19, 2016

Chungmuro/Film News

An illicit student-teacher affair in Misbehavior

If Kim Haneul’s most recent drama On the Way to the Airport was a subdued and atmospheric depiction of adultery, then her latest film Misbehavior (Korean title: Teacher) appears to be quite the opposite, charged with the heated passion of forbidden desire and torrid jealousy.

Misbehavior takes place at an all boys high school where Kim Haneul plays a contract teacher named Hyo-joo. Her colleague Hae-young, played by Yoo In-young (Goodbye Mr. Black), is a staff teacher and the privileged daughter of the head of the school board, who develops an illicit relationship with the student Hyo-joo’s been eyeing. Lee Won-geun (The Good Wife) plays Jae-ha, the student and dancer who gets involved with both teachers. Fueled by jealousy, Hyo-joo is bent on taking Jae-ha away from Hae-young, to snatch just one thing away from the woman who seemingly has it all.

In the teaser, Hyo-joo confronts Hae-young about seeing her and Jae-ha in the throes of passion in the school gym. Hae-young begs her to stay quiet, but Hyo-joo coldly replies that she never said she’d turn a blind eye to it. “Since you have your dad’s clout, you may think the school is your playground, but this is a boys school. As your sunbae and fellow colleague, this is a warning,” we hear her say to Hae-young.

But Hae-young grows suspicious when she sees Hyo-joo and Jae-ha together, and we hear Hyo-joo ask, “Isn’t it funny? For you, it’s okay, but for me, it’s not?” Hyo-joo finds Jae-ha sprawled on the floor with empty beer cans strewn about and invites him home, and later we see him on top of her asking, “Should I be your lover?”

Naturally, this student-teacher love triangle gets messy, and Hyo-joo sees green when she catches Jae-ha pull Hae-young in for a kiss. The teaser ends with Hyo-joo fuming and looking down at someone, along with her soundbite: “I’ll teach you why I am this way.”

Misbehavior will open in theaters on January 5, 2017.