THE WOMAN Review – Fantasia International Film Festival 2025

A cryptic thriller that doesn’t quite see the forest for the trees, “The Woman” is a strange thriller entry at Fantasia that is led by a great performance from Han Hye-ji.

Synopsis

An exchange of strawberries and a used household appliance turns into a nightmare for Sun-kyung when her partner turns up dead. Now she must follow the trail of a disturbing stranger.

Review
You gotta love the directors that take a swing for the fences, win or fail. Hwang Wook, a director who previously came to Fantasia with the black comedy neo-Western “Mash Ville” in 2024, is a filmmaker not afraid to take risks in his storytelling approach. His versatile skills are put on full display in “The Woman”, a film about Sun-kyung (played by Han Hye-ji), a woman who believes that a strange man who sold her a used vacuum and gave her strawberries may have killed her college classmate whose death is ruled as a suicide. The film opens with a quote about our brains being inclined to always search for what we believe is right. This quote reflects the strange nature of Sun-kyung who is unusually determined to prove that her classmate’s suicide was more than such and how far she goes to prove it. Wook carries an interesting approach to the thriller genre, switching perspectives as well as tones, with the film more than once steering into cringe comedy. It’s not a film for everyone as its storytelling approach can be polarizing to the general thriller audience but the magnetic performance from its lead Han Hye-ji keeps things compelling.

As perspectives switch in “The Woman”, the film keeps us on our toes as we wrestle with what is objective and what is subjective. As Sun-kyung tries to discover the truth, the film tries to play a fast one on us and even explores the question of the main character herself being a suspect. The film throws in different elements along Sun-kyung’s search for the truth including an overly-excited conspiracy theorist, an exasperated detective working the case and the unusual suspect himself that set Sun-kyung’s suspicions in motion. As the film continuously switches perspectives and flips the plot on its head, the film finds itself going into comedy territory as everything is not what it seems and one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing. While the film’s storytelling pace sounds like it is Burn After Reading-adjacent, it gives off a polarizing effect. While trying to zero in on each perspective the film throws at us, it’s hard to keep track of it all and keep track of what exactly is happening. Another film to note in contrast – Michael Haneke’s 2000 film “Code Unknown”, a puzzle box story where characters intersect and connect, stemming from one violent incident. The difference with that film is that the challenge of the narrative is not polarizing, it’s accepted and we catch onto one piece after another as we stay tuned to see what is coming around the corner. In “The Woman”, we stick around but one piece is more challenging than the other and it can be more than a bit confounding to understand just what the truth is.

Hwang Wook is no doubt a director worth looking out for as he never fails to keep things interesting with this disorienting thriller. Han Hye-ji is magnetic as Sun-kyung, her performance toeing the line between a woman that is trying to find the truth and, based on other characters’ perspectives, a woman that comes off just as strange and odd as the suspect she is pursuing. While the direction may be inspired in how it handles the uneasiness and tension of the story, the storytelling is just a bit too cryptic, not spelling anything out for its audience but not really throwing them a bone either. It handles its theme of “objective reality vs subjective reality” well but there is much lacking in the story’s conclusion and its effort at resolution. As stated before, “The Woman” leaves us where we began when we first meet the unusual Sun-kyung, scratching our heads fervently – at least the puzzle itself looks nice.

Closing Thoughts
This one was a surprise in which I did not expect for this film to be as strange as it was. I admire Wook’s ambition to make a different kind of film, especially one that doesn’t follow the normal beats of a thriller. While I can confidently say I’ve never seen a film like “The Woman” before, I can’t honestly say that its uniqueness makes it great. I am however intrigued to see what Hwang Wook will make next and what genre he will play around in while continuing to subvert expectations.

Trailer