Mi-in-do

Nov 13 2008 PG-13 1h 48m
Drama, Romance

Born to a family of established court painters, seven-year-old Yoon-jeong is a young girl gifted at painting. However, the pressure is on her brother to carry on the proud family tradition, as women aren’t allowed to become professional painters. While her brother trains to take his place in the court, Yoon-jeong helps him out by secretly painting for him. The little girl’s life is turned upside down when her brother kills himself. In order to preserve the family honor, she is forced to take her brother’s name and lives as a man. Yun-bok’s genius and talent captures the heart of another great master of the time, Kim Hong-do. But her daring depictions of women are condemned by the royal institute as obscene. Yun-bok meets Kang-mu and falls deeply in love. For the first time, she feels the strong desire to abandon everything she has built and simply be a woman in front of the man she loves. Kang-moo sacrifices all for his love as well.

Plot

Yun-bok begins life as a young girl, Yun-jeong, with an extraordinary flair for painting. Unfortunately, the social constraints of the day prevent her from engaging in her heart's profession, but her brother is being prepped for life as a court painter. In desperation, Yun-jeong paints for him and allows her own work to masquerade as his. Then, when the brother commits suicide, Yun-jeong assumes his identity, disguises herself in male drag as Yun-bok, and lives as a male. This grows complicated once Yun-jeong falls deeply in love with a man, Kang-mu. Meanwhile, Yun-jeong's longtime instructor, Kim Hong-do, falls in love with her, and a courtesan named Seol-hwa falls helplessly into unrequited love with Kim -- prompting her to undertake an extreme and fatal act of jealous passion.

Written by

Yun-su Chong, Su-ryeon Han

Directed by

Yun-su Chong

Cast

Kim Gyu-ri, Kim Young-ho, Kim Nam-gil

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

South Korea

Production Companies

CJ Entertainment

Languages

Awards

2 wins & 8 nominations total

Trailers
PORTRAIT OF A BEAUTY Official Int'l Main Trailer
Scores
# of Votes
1,199
Average Rating
6.3 out of 10
Metascore
NA
Popularity
NA