The Last Princess (film)

In 1925, Korea was under Japanese rule, and the 13-year-old Princess Deokhye — the last princess of the Joseon dynasty — was forced to move to Japan to attend school. Missing her home, she makes several attempts to return after finishing school, but these are thwarted by the pro-Japanese General Han Taek-soo. One day, however, she is reunited with her childhood friend Kim Jang-han, a Japanese army officer who is also part of the Korean independence movement. He plans a secret operation to move her and her brother, Yi Un, to Shanghai, home to the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. However, this attempt fails when Han Taek-soo discovers the plan, resulting in Deokhye and Kim losing contact with each other. In 1931, she is forced to marry Count Sō Takeyuki, and she develops schizophrenia after giving birth to their daughter the following year. Kim becomes a newspaper reporter and eventually finds Deokhye in a Japanese mental hospital decades after they were separated. He then persuades the South Korean government to allow her into the country. In 1962, Deokhye is finally able to return to her homeland. ==Cast==

• Son Ye-jin as Princess Deokhye • Kim So-hyun as teen Deokhye • Shin Rin-ah as young Deokhye • Park Hae-il as Kim Jang-han • Yeo Hoe-hyun as teen Jang-han • Lee Hyo-je as young Jang-han • Yoon Je-moon as Han Taek-soo • Ra Mi-ran as Bok-soon • Jung Sang-hoon as Bok-dong • Park Joo-mi as Yang Gwi-in • Ahn Nae-sang as Kim Hwang-jin • Kim Dae-myung as Kim Bong-guk • Baek Yoon-sik as Emperor Gojong • Park Soo-young as Yi Un • Kim Jae-wook as Count Sō Takeyuki • Go Soo as Yi Wu • Oh Hye-won as Oh-hye • Lee Chae-eun as Jung-hye • Naho Toda as Yi Bang-ja • Lee Se-na as Seo Kyung-shin • Jung Se-hyung as Lee Gun • Kim Seung-hoon as Chairman Park • Do Yong-gu as Yoshida • Ahn Sang-woo as Emperor Sunjong • Kwak Ja-Hyoung as ID examiner for those boarding ship to Korea • Nam Sang-ji as Orphanage schoolmistress • Shin Shin-ae as Hangeul School Principal (Special Appearance) ==Production==

Director Hur Jin-ho decided to make a film about Princess Deokhye after watching a documentary about her on television; he could not forget the scene showing the princess reuniting with her court ladies at the Gimpo Airport, when she was finally allowed to return to Korea after 38 years in Japan. The story is a mix of fact and fiction, as Kim Jang-han is a fictional character. At the 2012 Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), Hur's film project was selected to receive co-production development support from the Korean Film Council. Pre-production for The Last Princess began in 2014. In August 2015, Son Ye-jin and Park Hae-il were announced to be starring in the film. Son had previously worked with Hur on the 2005 film April Snow. The Last Princess was launched in October 2015 at BIFF's Asian Film Market. Principal photography commenced on 30 November and was completed on 23 March 2016, with filming taking place in Japan and South Korea. The film was initially funded with US$8.6 million, and Son invested (US$886,500) into the film after production costs rose, so the staff would have a "more comfortable working environment". Son accepted the role of Princess Deokhye with no hesitation. After seeing the completed film, she said she had no regrets about her performance. ==Reception==

Box office The Last Princess opened in third place at the box office on August 3, and rose to the number one spot during the weekend of August 5–7. Over the weekend, 1.2 million tickets were sold across 961 screens, accounting for 24 percent of all ticket sales in South Korea. The film earned US$12.4 million in a five-day period (August 3–7), with 1.7 million tickets sold. The film grossed US$35.4 million in South Korea. It grossed worldwide. Critical response The film received generally positive reviews by critics. Sung So-young of the Korea JoongAng Daily praised the film for being "interesting enough to hold the audience's interest from beginning to end", even though she felt Hur's imagination went too far in several scenes. She said major events from Princess Deokhye's life were portrayed well, and the film's biggest virtue was how it made audiences want to know more about her. Rumy Doo of The Korea Herald said the film was a "refreshing change from typical dramas about the Japanese occupation of Korea, which are usually intent on delivering a message of patriotism, and tend to be heavy-handed in their emotional arcs". Doo appreciated Hur's "muted approach" in his handling of the character's emotions, and praised the performances of the two leads, saying Park Hae-il showed "deft skill and subtlety" and Son Ye-jin proved herself a "sensitive and technically refined performer". Yun Suh-young of The Korea Times praised the film for being "engaging, entertaining and moving", rare for a historical film, and complemented Hur's "masterful" direction and the cast's "superb" acting. == Awards and nominations ==