A Tale of Two Sisters

2003 ‘장화, 홍련’ Directed by Kim Jee-woon

Our sorrow was conceived long before our birth

A recently released patient from a mental institution returns home with her sister, only to face disturbing events between her stepmother and the ghosts haunting their house- all of which are connected to a dark past in the family's history.

Im Soo-jung Moon Geun-young Yum Jung-ah Kim Gab-soo Park Mi-hyeon Lee Seung-bi Woo Ki-Hong Lee Dae-yeon

Alternative Titles

Deux Sœurs, Két nővér, Janghwa, Hongryeon, A Tale Of Two Sisters, Dos hermanas, Zwei Schwestern, Los poseidos

drama horror mystery

115 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Sean Baker 35

This has been in my queue for years. I thought I would adore this film because it is one of the most hyped films of the Korean New Wave and Kim Jee-woon is great but I think I messed up and saw this film 15 years too late. The style is definitely of its time. I can see the influence this film had on the last decade and a half of this genre -- especially the Blumhouse films like Insidious, Sinister, Conjuring, etc. So I wasn't swept away because I'm so used to the style now. Damn it.
Watched on Kanopy.
Btw, Kanopy is an amazing streaming platform that is free with a public library card. They have a great selection of films... perhaps the best in terms of diversity - classic, foreign, indie and new releasees. Kanopy is one of two platforms streaming this film - the other is Shudder.
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★ 9

All I know is that I'm scared and I'm confused.
Help me, It's dark down here.
Review by Aaron ★★★★½ 27

Part of Hoop-Tober
“I’ll always be with you.”
In close-up, a man washes his hands carefully and repeatedly. His hands do not appear dirty. He has not, so far as we can tell, just used the toilet, nor is he preparing to eat or to engage in some practice necessitating sterility. He is merely awaiting a conversation. Nonetheless, he is fastidious about his washing. It is a curious image with which to begin Kim Jee-Woon’s A Tale of Two Sisters, but one that, eventually, makes a great deal of sense. For hand-washing, in the grand tradition of Pontius Pilate, is commonly associated with the cleansing of guilt, and guilt hangs over Kim’s picture like a deathly shroud.
Of course, hand-washing…
Review by DirkH ★★★★ 9

To all involved in the making of this film:
You're all a bunch of heartless bastards.
Sincerely,
Dirk's insomnia
Review by Nakul ★★★½ 1

Kim Ji-Woon's A Tale of Two Sisters, remains a consistently rewarding rewatch. It's a smartly crafted, atmospheric psychological horror movie peppered with just the right amount of jump scares to spice things, with a nearly consistent undertone of dread.
Yet, at its heart, A Tale of Two Sisters is much more than a ghost story, it's a heartbreaking study of a family torn apart by grief & loss.
Review by kailey ★★★½ 2

vague spoiler warning
i do not think the scene where all three characters get their periods at once is a throwaway. curiously, it's one of the bloodier moments of the film: the specks of blood on the bed are given the same weight as the tears on a nightgown when an altercation goes down later in the film. it's a brief moment of connection for three very different women (well...) before they splinter apart again, locked inside a dark house and all battling their own ghosts.
the young woman at the center of this movie is on the midst of puberty and adulthood- again i do not think this was a mere coincidence. she's angry and confused and sad, thrown…
Review by Siegel™ ★★★ 16

I'm a big fan of Kim Jee-woon and his versatility in making genre films. From revenge thriller to wacky western to horror-comedy and more, he makes films that are very much confined to a genre, but he doesn't do the same genre twice. Needless to say I was excited to check out his take on horror and....
I figured almost the whole thing out in the first 15 minutes, and even if I hadn't the movie reveals its secrets and tricks far too obviously and much too early to be mysterious in any way. A rare case where I can name several American films that did it better.
Review by YI JIAN ★★★★★

Are you crazy?
The past is a ghost we can never escape from, hence the phrase haunted by guilt. It sticks with us like a black, ugly mist and any effort to contain it would only backfire and cause it to spill out and seep into our surroundings, into the blood red wallpaper, the neatly arranged furniture, the scattered pills, and the most terrifying place of them all: the cold, damp corner under the sink. This is a haunted house not because of it's location, but the disturbed beings that inhabit it. This is a tale of two sisters concerning a family a four, no five, six, seven, wait but don't forget the little girl roaming between hallways, the phantom…
Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★½ 15

Hoop-Tober, Film 17 of 31:
A complex film that utilizes the concept of non-linear filmmaking quite well, but is so intricately crafted that it might confuse some viewers. You'd be hard-pressed to find a horror film with a better combination of cinematography, editing and performances... but even calling this a horror film feels wrong. The ever-mobile camera juxtaposed with the gorgeous set design makes for a fantastic visual experience, and the sound design is just as well put together. There were at least a half dozen points during the film where a certain sound effect or scream or something sent a shiver down my spine and made my body tense up.
A Tale of Two Sisters has an impressive atmosphere…
Review by 🅲🅾🆁🅸🅴 ★★★★ 16

Asia-Weekend bzw. Asia Filmfestival von Martin
Whooop Whooop Asia-Horror ❤
Regisseur Ji-woon Kim setzt in "A tale of two sisters" geschickt klassische Gruselelemente in Szene...👌
Trotzdem handelt es sich hier um keinen Horror im klassischen Sinne...hat aber dennoch Gänsehautgarantie!
Dieser "besondere Asia-Horror- Film" kann als eine Art Kammerspiel bezeichnet werden, schließlich kommt er mit lediglich vier Hauptdarstellern aus, denen fast ausschließlich die gesamte Spielzeit gehört.👌
Zwei Schwestern kehren in das Landhaus ihres Vaters zurück, wo sie sich mit der jungen Stiefmutter einen Psychokrieg liefern, bei dem die Geheimnisse der Vergangenheit an die Oberfläche dringen und sich eine mörderische Familienkonstellation offenbart...
"A tale if two sisters" hat eine wunderschöne aber gleichzeitig sehr düstere, unwohle Atmosphäre die durch tolle Sets (Der rote…
Review by Marianna ✨🪐 Neal ★★★★½

"Do you know what's really scary? You want to forget something. Totally wipe it off your mind. But you never can."
1. Watching this before bed was a mistake.
2. I THINK I know what happened in this film, but I need to see it again to be sure.
3. This film is amazing on all accounts.
4. To anyone considering watching it: DO IT! But pay attention to everything, or you may end up confused.
5. Seriously, how am I supposed to sleep now?
Review by Ian West ★★★★ 2

Brilliantly shot with great direction, this moody and atmospheric telling of the Korean folktale Janghwa Hongryeon jeon is my favorite on screen adaptation of said story, super stylish and disturbing despite showing restraint, A Tale of Two Sisters was an effectively creepy revisit for me and another home run in the wonderful filmography of Kim Jee-woon

Recent reviews

Review by Soleil Chance ★★★★½

women will have mental illnesses and trauma and guilt
Review by nerms ★½

Gorgeous cinematography but poor pacing and a confusing twist makes this film an utter snooze 😴
Review by valentina ★★★½

no se que me gustó más si la cinematografía, la edición, la música, los colores o la madrastra
Review by Viv ★★ 1

???
Review by Alvaro9 ★★★★

Buen terror psicológico.
Review by Jacob ★★★½

Wow
Review by michelle 🧪 ★★★ 2

hmmmm
i don't want to stop trying to give psychological horror a chance but at the same time i always feel bad because they never really seem to win me over. but thats okay i guess, everybody has their fav subgenres :)
overall a well made film tho!!
Review by nobodynobody ★★★★

I just have one thing to say...mind fuck
Review by yeongam ★½

wasn't rly interesting:/ i expected the final act to be packed with more of a punch but i didn't get that. second viewing in a couple months might change my perspective
Review by Mohamed Mostafa ★★★★★

I need to cry forever
Review by Matthewpitman_ ★★★★

intriguing
Review by Alif ★★★★

6th LSC Week 10
While people know that this was the original to The Uninvited’s remake — but little realize that A Tale of Two Sisters was loosely based off Nancy Meyer’s 1998 classic The Parent Trap.