The Scent (Korean간통을 기다리는 남자; RRGantongeul Gidarineun Namja; MRKant'ongŭl Kidarinŭn Namcha; lit. "Man Who Waits for Adultery"; also shortened to Korean간기남; RRGan-gi-nam) is a 2012 South Korean comedy-thriller film starring Park Hee-soon and Park Si-yeon.[2][3]

The Scent
Korean name
Hangul
간통을 기다리는 남자
Hanja
을 기다리는
Revised RomanizationGantongeul Gidarineun Namja
McCune–ReischauerKant'ongŭl Kidarinŭn Namcha
Directed byKim Hyeong-jun
Written byHwang Seong-gu
Kim Hyeong-jun
Produced byChoi Jun-yeong
Lee Min-ho
StarringPark Hee-soon
Park Si-yeon
CinematographyChoi Young-taek
Yun Tae-gi
Edited byKim Sun-min
Music byYuta
Production
company
Distributed byShowbox
Release date
  • April 11, 2012 (2012-04-11)
Running time
117 minutes
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean
Box officeUS$8.2 million[1]

Kang Seon-woo is a detective specializing in adultery cases. One day, he investigates the scene of an incident only to find two dead bodies. The only witness is Kim Soo-jin, the dead man's wife. Seon-woo inadvertently become a primary suspect and struggles to prove his innocence.[4]

Plot

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For the past two years, while on suspension for adultery with a police chief's wife, detective Kang Seon-woo (Park Hee-soon), has been running a private-eye agency specializing in adultery cases. He's also being sued for divorce by his wife, Hye-young (Cha Soo-yeon). A couple of days before resuming his old job, Seon-u accepts a case from a woman, Kim Soo-jin (Yoon Jae), who wears a particularly alluring perfume. She says her husband, casino billionaire Nam Yeong-gil (Jo Won-hee), is conducting an affair with another woman at a love hotel in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, outside Seoul. Seon-woo checks into an adjoining room in the unmanned hotel and is met there by Soo-jin. Instead of immediately surprising the lovers, Soo-jin invites Seon-woo to a drink and seduces him. Seon-woo wakes up next to her dead body, and in the next room finds the husband also dead. The woman there says her name is also Kim Soo-jin (Park Si-yeon) and the dead man is her husband. Along with his idiot assistant, ex-con Gi-poong (Lee Kwang-soo), Seon-woo cleans the crime scenes and buries the bodies, realizing he's been framed for the double murder. Resuming his job at Jonggu Police Station, Seon-woo investigates the case along with two colleagues: the stubbornly procedural Seo (Kim Jung-tae), who dislikes him, and the easy-going Han Gil-ro (Joo Sang-wook), who admires him. Seon-woo has noticed that Soo-jin wears the same perfume as her dead namesake, and she admits she wanted a divorce from her husband, who used to beat her. Seon-woo questions the dead Soo-jin's boyfriend, gym trainer Lee Jin-guk (Kim Yun-seong), but the trail leads nowhere. As the terrier-like Seo comes up with more evidence that could eventually implicate Seon-woo in the murders, Seon-woo finds himself falling hard for Soo-jin and on a deadline to solve the mystery.[5]

Cast

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Production

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About her radical nude scene, Park Si-yeon said, "When I first got the script, there was no exposure scene and I did not know that I had to go naked in front of the camera until we started filming. It was tough as I have never done such thing before, but I had several heated discussions with the producer and my co-star Park Hee-soon about these scenes and we did it."[6]

Box office

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Despite somewhat negative reception from film critics, the film performed strongly at the box office.[7] In total the film sold 1,246,185 admissions nationwide,[8] with the success of the film largely attributed to Park Si-yeon's numerous nude scenes.[9][10]

References

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  1. ^ "The Scent". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
  2. ^ Suk, Monica (23 February 2012). "Park Si-yeon, Park Hee-soon's film to premiere in April". 10Asia. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  3. ^ Hong, Lucia (28 July 2011). "Park Si-yeon to make comeback to big screen". 10Asia. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  4. ^ "The Scent (2012)". The Chosun Ilbo. 13 April 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  5. ^ Elley, Derek (24 August 2012). "The Scent". Film Business Asia. Archived from the original on 26 August 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  6. ^ "Park Si Yeon Talks About Nude Scene in Upcoming Film "The Scent"". www.soompi.com. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  7. ^ Paquet, Darcy (30 May 2012). "Box office, April 1-30". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  8. ^ "Korean Box Office". Hancinema. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  9. ^ "Korean Movies Get Racier to Fend off Hollywood". The Chosun Ilbo. 15 May 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  10. ^ "Man Waiting for Adultery Park Siyeon mentioned about the bed scene". StarN News. 4 April 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
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