Happy End on AllMovie

One of the most popular homegrown films in South Korea in 1999, the extramarital drama Haepi Endeu presents a subtle, character-based approach to the time-honored tradition of the love triangle. The movie opens with an illicit encounter between Bo-ra (Jeon Do-yean) and her lover Il-beom (Joo Jin-mo), an ex-boyfriend who has recently shown up to re-ignite their romance. Meanwhile, Bo-ra's husband, Min-ki (Choi Min-sik), is content to play the homemaker in their marriage, caring for their baby daughter and reading mystery novels. He eventually confronts Bo-ra with evidence of the affair. Instead of strengthening their bond, she continues to meet Il-Beom, and Min-ki quietly comes up with a scheme for putting an end to the situation. Haepi Endeu is the first full-length film from writer-director Jung Ji-woo -- and marks a mature turn from Do-yean, who was last seen playing a naive schoolgirl in The Harmonium of My Memory.