History Film / ATaleOfTwoSisters

** The film opens with a scene where Soo-mi is in the mental institution and is questioned by the doctor about the day she was admitted, which she refuses to answer. It was left to be intentionally ambiguous as to whether or not the scene is a flashback to the day she was admitted after Su-yeon and their mother died or if it is a flashforward after she has her mental breakdown in the house later in the movie and is re-admitted to the institution.

* ComfortingComforter: Soo-mi pulls the blanket up for her sleeping dad.

* DeskSweepOfRage: Soo-mi wipes her stepmother's tea cup off the table in anger.

* DreamWithinADream: Soo-mi has a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_awakening false awakening]] in which she encounters a StringyHairedGhostGirl in her bedroom.

** When Eun-joo is at the dinner party alone with Moo-hyeon and her brother and sister-in-law, she is sharing a weird story about a childhood incident with Soo-mi and Soo-yeon which she couldn't possibly know about.

* FreezeFrameEnding: The movie ends with a freeze frame on Soo-mi as she walks away from the house.

* GhostButler: Towards the end, the door closes on Eun-joo right before she is being attacked.
* GhostlyChill: When Eun-joo returns to the house and enters Soo-yeon's former room, her breath is visible and she is shaking rapidly. It's a sign that Soo-yeon's ghost is present who then proceeds to attack Eun-joo.

* POVShot: A quick one from Soo-mi as she is dragged across the floor by Eun-joo after their fight.

* PsychoStrings: Heard near the end during TheReveal [[spoiler:of the real Eun-joo coming face to face with Su-mi]].

* RemovedFromThePicture: Soo-mi rips Eun-joo from the old photographs.

* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: [[spoiler:Most of the movie is through Su-mi's perspective, showing her hallucinations of Su-yeon and her SplitPersonality acting as Eun-joo.]]

* WickedStepmother: Eun-joo clearly despises her stepdaughters from the start and mistreats them constantly, from talking down to them as if they're children to beating and locking one of them in a wardrobe and refusing to let her out unless she apologizes. [[spoiler:The reality is slightly more complicated: the Eun-joo seen throughout the film is revealed to actually be Su-mi's SplitPersonality acting out her impression of Eun-joo, and the real Eun-joo only shows up in person at the end to help Moo-hyeon take Su-mi back to the institution. She initially seems to be a subversion because she speaks kindly to Su-mi and promises to visit her, despite Su-mi's rejection, but then it [[DoubleSubvertedTrope turns out]] that Eun-joo deliberately let Su-yeon suffocate to death under a wardrobe to spite Su-mi for talking back to her, making her fulfill this trope after all.]]

* OedipusComplex: Played with. [[spoiler:Following TheReveal, the earlier scene where Eun-ju waits in bed for Moo-hyeon (who reluctantly puts his arm around her to get her to sleep) takes on a very different light. However, Su-mi genuinely believes herself to be Eun-ju at this point.]]

''A Tale of Two Sisters'' (aka ''Janghwa, Hongryeon'', literally ''Rose Flower, Red Lotus'') is a 2003 UsefulNotes/{{South Korea}}n psychological horror film by Kim Ji-woon. It is the first Korean horror film to be screened in American theatres.

''A Tale of Two Sisters'' (aka ''Janghwa, Hongryeon'', literally ''Rose Flower, Red Lotus'') is a 2003 UsefulNotes/{{South Korea}}n psychological horror film by Kim Ji-woon. It is both the highest-grossing Korean horror film and the first to be screened in American theatres.

* ElectraComplex: Played with. [[spoiler:Following TheReveal, the earlier scene where Eun-ju waits in bed for Moo-hyeon (who reluctantly puts his arm around her to get her to sleep) takes on a very different light. However, Su-mi genuinely believes herself to be Eun-ju at this point.]]

* RealAfterAll: [[spoiler: Eun-ju is attacked by a ghost towards the end.]]

* AluminumChristmasTrees: In this film, there is a lot of stuff that goes on that doesn't immediately make sense and you have to think about it in order to get what is going on. Therefore, Western viewers can be forgiven for the EpilepticTrees they come up with in trying to deduce the symbolism of the tents right by the road in the scene where the girls' uncle and his wife are driving at night. These tents are actually a common sight in rural areas of Korea as they serve an agricultural purpose.

* ColorCodedCharacters / ColorMotif: This may or may not be intentional, but Su-yeon is often shown wearing light colours and shades (usually white), Su-mi is usually shown in brighter colours with some exceptions, and Eun-ju often wears darker, (and richer) colours in shiny fabrics. Moo-hyeon, in comparison, is often shown wearing bland colours and shades. Towards the end, Eun-ju swaps her richer colours for a white dress to illustrate that [[spoiler:she and Su-mi are the same person]]. Furthermore, [[spoiler:the ''real'' Eun-ju is usually depicted in darker shades - she is wearing a dark grey suit when she turns up at the end and wears a black knitted sweater in the flashback]].

* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler: Su-yeon.]]

* DisproportionateRetribution: It is eventually revealed that [[spoiler: Eun-ju left Su-yeon to die under the wardrobe because of a confrontation she had with Su-mi, who was resentful of her due to her affair with her father. It is also worth noting that Eun-ju didn't quite think about how it also may have affected Moo-hyeon as well, by leaving her for dead.]]

* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: See StringyHairedGhostGirl below.

* TheEndingChangesEverything: See TheReveal.

* GhostButler: Towards the end the door closes on Eun-joo right before she is being attacked.

* ImaginaryEnemy / ImaginaryFriend: [[spoiler: Su-mi's Eun-ju persona is the imaginary enemy. The Su-yeon seen throughout most of the film is the imaginary friend.]]

* KickTheDog: Eun-ju's treatment of Su-yeon, [[spoiler:both real and imagined]].
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler: Poor Su-yeon.]]

* MindScrew: And ''how''.
* MinimalistCast: The film features four main characters plus four extras.

* NothingIsScarier: Much of the film runs on this.
* OedipusComplex: Played with. [[spoiler:Following TheReveal, the earlier scene where Eun-ju waits in bed for Moo-hyeon (who reluctantly puts his arm around her to get her to sleep) takes on a very different light. However, Su-mi genuinely believes herself to be Eun-ju at this point.]]

* PsychologicalHorror

* ShearMenace: [[spoiler: Su-mi stabs Eun-ju in the hand with a pair of scissors in self-defence.]]
* ShrinkingViolet: Su-yeon.

* StepfordSmiler: Eun-ju, ''big'' time.

* TomatoInTheMirror: See TheReveal and SplitPersonality.

* WhamShot: [[spoiler: During Su-mi and Eun-ju's fight, Moo-hyeon walks in to find Su-mi unconscious...and wearing Eun-ju's clothes and with the same stab wounds she inflicted on her.]]

* [[WhiteShirtOfDeath White Dress Of Death]]: Just look at the film poster.

* TheXOfY

* IllGirl: The girls' mother.

* AdultFear: Moo-hyeon has already lost his wife. Not only that, but [[spoiler: he lost his youngest daughter ''on the very same day'' as his wife's death, and his eldest daughter not only hates him, but is also severely mentally unstable]].

* SpotOfTea: Eun-ju attempts to have one during a confrontation with Su-mi. The latter responds by [[DeskSweepOfRage sweeping everything off the table]].

* BittersweetEnding: Heavily leaning on the bitter side. [[spoiler:Su-yeon is dead and Su-mi is committed once again to a psychiatric hospital. But Su-yeon's ghost is implied to exact homicidal revenge on Eun-ju and Su-mi also hears the tune they sang at the beginning, hinting that she senses her sister is still present somehow. Judging from the final shots of her being happy, she seems to have achieved some form of peace because of this.]]

[[spoiler:Su-yeon is dead and Su-mi is returned to the institution once it's clear she's still mentally unwell, but Su-yeon's ghost turns out to be RealAfterAll and exacts revenge on Eun-joo for letting her die. ]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Su-yeon is dead and Su-mi is returned to the institution once it's clear she's still mentally unwell, but Su-yeon's ghost turns out to be RealAfterAll and exacts revenge on Eun-joo for letting her die. Su-mi is implied, from her reaction to hearing the tune she and Su-yeon sang at the beginning, to sense that her sister is still present somehow, and seems to have found some peace because of this.]]

* BittersweetEnding: Heavily leaning on the bitter side. [[spoiler:Su-mi is committed once again to a psychiatric hospital, but Su-yeon's ghost is implied to exact homicidal revenge on Eun-ju, and judging by the final shots we see of Su-mi being happy, she seems to have achieved some form of peace.]]

%%* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane

* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness

* UnreliableNarrator: [[spoiler: Su-mi.]]

* WickedStepmother: ''Legendary.'' [[spoiler: Or not. Maybe.]]

->''“Do you know what’s really scary? You want to forget something. Totally wipe it out of your mind. But you never can. It can’t go away, you see. And it follows you around like a ghost.”''

* StringyHairedGhostGirl: This film contains the scariest damn one you may EVER see. [[spoiler:And, if you look closely, you can see that it appears to be the girls' mother.]] This is confirmed by WordOfGod.

* WhamShot: [[spoiler: During Su-mi and Eun-ju’s fight, Moo-hyeon walks in to find Su-mi unconscious...and wearing Eun-ju’s clothes and with the same stab wounds she inflicted on her.]]

* ForgivenButNotForgotten: Averted. [[spoiler:When Su-mi is readmitted into the hospital after her second mental breakdown, Eun-ju attempts to reconcile her relationship with her (which was dysfunctional to put it lightly) and finally make peace, by promising to visit her as often as she can. Su-mi completely rebuffs her advances, making it quite clear that not only will she never forgot about what happened to Su-yeon and her implied affair with Moo-hyeon, but it's obvious that she will never forgive her for it.]]

* DisproportionateRetribution: It is eventually revealed that [[spoiler: Eun-ju left Su-yeon to die under the wardrobe because of a confrontation she had with Su-mi, who was resentful of her due to [[YourCheatingHeart her affair with her father]]. It is also worth noting that Eun-ju didn't quite think about how it also may have affected Moo-hyeon as well, by leaving her for dead.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler: It ''seems'' that Moo-hyeon had an affair with Eun-ju which possibly drove much of the chaos in the household. Whether it's actually true or just an assumption from the girls and their mother is ambiguous. ]]

* SpotOfTea: Eun-ju attempts to have one during a confrontation with Su-mi. The latter responds by [[DeskSweepOfRage: sweeping everything off the table]].

* BrokenBird: Su-mi is traumatizes from having her mother and sister taken away from her on the same day. Her non-responsiveness at the hospital would even suggest she's become an EmptyShell.

* CreepyDoll: Although it is completely inanimate, and is used to both enhance the mood of the film, and to [[spoiler:further the plot towards the end]].

** [[spoiler:Su-mi is quite clearly guilt ridden when she realizes that she inadvertently caused her sister's death by giving in to her rage and insulting Eun-ju. It's what eventually lead to her mental breakdown. You can hardly blame her even though she is completely innocent and had no way of knowing that her mother was dead and that her sister is dying literally in the next room from where she's standing.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Su-mi, whose condition has only got worse ever since coming home, is committed once again to a psychiatric hospital, and it is uncertain when or if she will get better.]]

* FreezeFrameEnding: The movie ends one a freeze frame on Soo-mi as she wakes away from the house.

* PeacefulInDeath: Played straight in a deleted scene. [[spoiler:After Su-yeon's ghost briefly visits Su-mi in her hospital room, finally getting her to respond, she returns to her former room to (presumably) kill Eun-ju in vengeance. Afterwards, Su-mi lies back in her bed with a small smile on her face. The alternate ending continues, showing a discarded and nearly empty pill bottle on the floor, and a brief shot of a lifeless Su-mi, who committed suicide, presumably to finally reunite with her mother and sister.]]

* Forgiven,ButNotForgotten: Averted. [[spoiler:When Su-mi is readmitted into the hospital after her second mental breakdown, Eun-ju attempts to reconcile her relationship with her (which was dysfunctional to put it lightly) and finally make peace, by promising to visit her as often as she can. Su-mi completely rebuffs her advances, making it quite clear that not only will she never forgot about what happened to Su-yeon and her implied affair with Moo-hyeon, but it's obvious that she will never forgive her for it.]]