Freedom?

Before I start writing about ‘Madame Freedom,’ I was rather confused at the title. I personally thought the title was a bit ironic in a sense that madam is usually used for woman who is married. When you hear the word madam, you instantly have this notion that married women are not as ‘free’ compared to individual women. What does it mean by ‘Madame Freedom’ then? How free can a married woman be with a family and all the responsibilities that come as a mother and a wife? The definition of freedom needs to be well defined because freedom can be such an ambiguous term. A dictionary meaning of freedom is ‘the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.’ If this definition was to be followed, is Sun Young really free? Are any of the women in the movie free? My answer is no. Although the audience may believe Sun Young and others were women with freedom, I disagree. Sun Young and Yun Ju are just disregarding their responsibilities as a mother and a wife and acting rather recklessly, controlled by emotions. They are for sure are provided with more chance to speak their mind and to make their own choices because of their social and economic status. But because of this status they are more conscious of how other people look and think about them. The women are trying desperately to cut the chains of the unspoken limitations.

In addition, I found Tae Yun and Sun Young hypocritical in their actions because both of them have an affair. Tae Yun with the typist, Ms. Park, Sun Young with the dancing teacher Chun Ho and Tae Suk, the owner of the Paris Boutique. Sun Young gets jealous when she sees Tae Yun with Ms. Park and talks to him spitefully when she is actually is worse in seeing another man. Also, when Sun Young comes back home near the end of the movie, Tae Yun kicks her out because he is mad at her. Nevertheless, I don’t think Tae Yun deserved to treat her that way. Perhaps that is the reason why he changes his mind and lets his son open the door. It was not even Tae Yun who stopped the relationship with Ms. Park. If Ms. Park did not tell him that they couldn’t see each other anymore, who knows what would have happened?

Another interesting question is why was this movie such a hit? Were Koreans simply looking for a way out to temporarily escape reality? Or was it simply the life style of the middle-class they enjoyed watching? Perhaps Korean women wanted to be independent and were vicariously satisfied by watching this movie? There are so many questions to be answered.