Our take
Despite how the title sounds like, the horror of Bedevilled isn’t a devil, a demon, or a spirit. It isn’t even the way childhood friend Bok-nam snaps, taking up a scythe and going on a murderous rampage to kill all the people that wronged her. No, the actual horror of Bedevilled is that everyday people like bank employee Hae-won would hesitate to do what’s right. Reading that sentence can sound cheesy, but writer-director Jang Cheol-soo structures the film, and her visit to Modo, in a gradually escalating manner. When Hae-won first lands, the mean gossip seems ordinary, but the film takes these ordinary, if overcritical, words, and delves into the subtext, especially the darker implications that makes the film difficult to watch. The film does understand Hae-won’s hesitancy– the scenes do acknowledge that reporting could mean retaliation, and the score consistently meets that very fear. But Bedevilled also understands that, if hesitancy allows abuse to be left unchecked, the very same violence that Hae-won was (and many people are) avoiding will inevitably escalate.
What it won
Cannes
1 nom
The story
A disillusioned Seoul woman visits a remote island to reconnect with a childhood friend, only to find her trapped in an oppressive cycle of physical, mental, and sexual abuse. As tensions escalate, the situation spirals into a harrowing tale of survival and retribution.
Elsewhere
"It is this contrast between the two women that energises Bedevilled, a character-driven slowburner that builds ever so deliberately to its murderous climax."
— Anton Bitel
After refusing to identify the culprit behind an assault, Hae-won travels back to her remote town of Modo Island, at the urgent request of her childhood best friend Bok-nam.
What keeps this film from being rated higher is the fact that more time is dedicated to the abuse. But the thing is, knowing that so many people wouldn’t recognize some of these scenes as abusive, it’s necessary to depict, even if it does make the film a tad too long for some viewers.
It's terrible that real life– see the Mazan mass rape case– proves this film to be true.
The details
Streaming arrival
Who picked it
Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She's now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She's currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn't coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.
