Director Kim Do-Young Discusses Adapting ‘Kim Ji-Young: Born 1982’

Kim Ji-young is a name shared by many South Korean women born in the 1980s, but that’s not the only reason a novel—and subsequently a film— titled Kim Ji-young: Born 1982 resonated with young women there and also sparked controversy.

Written by television scriptwriter Cho Nam-joo, the book tells the story of a woman, born into a patriarchal family, who develops psychological problems while trying to reconcile what’s demanded of her. The novel’s portrait of lifelong gender inequality was met with criticism—and even hate mail—from those who felt it unfairly portrayed men. So, adapting the novel into a film was a daring move for first-time director Kim Do-young.

“The original work is a best-selling novel,” said Kim. “I had already read this novel before and sympathized with it a lot. After that, the production company made the initial proposal. It was a story that I wanted to tell so I was thankful that it was offered to me as my directorial debut. The original novel talks about the life of a woman named Kim Ji-young from her childhood and about the anxious and unfair experiences she had throughout her life.”

The novel’s message was significant for Kim, who as an actress appeared in the 2018 drama Partners for Justice and the films Last Child and The Treacherous.

“I’m not pushing or claiming anything, but I was able to read this book and reflect on the lives around me,” said Kim. “I think it helped me recognize what type of culture, society, and environment was surrounding many women. I hoped the movie would have the same effect.” 

In adapting the novel, Kim made some changes to the story’s sequence of events.

“The difficulty was that the novel was written in the form of a list of episodes and in the form of reportage,” she said. “It was important to get the episodes in this novel into the right order of events by creating a big narrative. I couldn’t fit in all the episodes, so I chose to insert as many stories as possible in Ji-young’s current state of mind.”

She altered the novel’s conclusion, in which the actions of Ji-young’s therapist suggest it might take a long time for perceptions of gender norms to evolve. Obviously, the novel has already promoted change, since it sparked so many, often heated, discussions about a woman’s role in contemporary Korean society.

“I think I felt a bit bitter after I finished the novel and it made me reflect on society and our customs,” said Kim. “For the movie, I wanted to give the audience a more hopeful message as they left the theater. I wanted the audience to feel, ‘the generation that my children are growing up in will be different.’ That’s why the doctor’s gender was changed from a man to a woman. In the novel, you felt betrayed by the doctor who had listened to Ji-young’s story, and probably because of that, it was written to be a man. But since the movie had a different ending, I didn’t feel the need for the doctor to be a man. Rather, I thought it would be better for a woman to hold her hand, listen to her, and stand with her in solidarity.”

Although Ji-young enjoyed professional success before having her child, the character is pressured to stay home, care for her family and abandon her career. She’s conditioned to think of herself as a second class citizen, because she’s a woman. She numbly moves through life, ignoring her own needs, until she begins having dissociative episodes in which she channels other women. While Kim is not sure the movie will change the world, she hopes it will add a ripple to the wave of awareness.

“ I thought it would be nice if the movie could provide the opportunity for people to look around themselves. What kind of air and environment are women in?”

The film stars Jung Yu-mi as Kim Ji-young and Gong Yoo as her sympathetic but sometimes puzzled husband. It’s the third time the actors have worked together, having both appeared in Train to Busan and The Silenced.

“Jung Yu-mi is an enigmatic actress,” said Kim. “She is beautiful but at the same time looks like the girl next door. She was also able to represent the woman Kim Ji-young. Kim Ji-young’s humanity and intangibility is what makes the character so lively. Gong Yoo is also a multi-layered actor. He has a gentle energy and outstanding acting skills at the same time. He knew exactly what he had to do in every scene and played the role of an ordinary husband very well.”

According to Kim, Gong Yoo’s character is kind and hardworking, but struggles with his limitations as a man who grew up in Korean society. 

“At first, you may notice his star quality, but he quickly makes you fall in love with the husband character Jung Dae-hyun,” said Kim. “I was pleased that the actor’s presence alone made the character feel more complex than what was written in the script. It is Gong Yoo’s great quality that he doesn’t make predictable choices. It was very satisfying to direct them because both actors were excellent in all aspects and because of their great chemistry.”

Kim has worked as an actress for almost 20 years and her experience on the other side of the camera proved helpful in making the film. 

“I often felt that the language of the actor and the language of the director was different,” she said. “I think it was much easier to work with the actors because I was well aware of how the directions would land. I have worked as an actor on stage for a long time. Then, it became difficult to work for a while after giving birth. During that time, I started writing, and the form of my writing was a play or script because that’s what I knew best. I thought I could work on filming short scripts because it required less time commitment, so I filmed a few things and started working as a director while editing it. What was surprising to me was that I felt much more comfortable when I was directing than when I was acting. After that experience, I decided to become a director and went to film school.”

The film topped the South Korean box office during its first week, surpassing one million moviegoers in five days. According to the Korean Film Council, the audience was 68 percent female.

Kim Ji-young: Born 1982 earned Kim Best New Director Awards at both the 56th Baeksang Arts Awards and at the 25th Chunsa Arts Awards. Kim is not sure what her next project will be but the subject matter will have to resonate.

“I don’t have anything specific yet, but I want to continue creating works that touch the topics that are close to my heart.”

The film, which was released in Oct. 2019, recently aired at the 2020 New York Asian Film Festival.