‘Su Hee’: A Romance Lies Between Homosexuality & Belief

GL Recaps Korea

2023-07-18
11:06

They say in every religion there is love, yet love has no religion. What if you fall in love with someone and it’s against your religious beliefs? Will you choose your religion over someone you love?

‘Su Hee‘ is an award-winning short film starring Min Seo Jong and Mon Woo Bin. The series is nominated at the 2021 Seoul Pride Film Festival. It tells the story of two young girls from a religious family who fell in love with each other. But as the relationship begins to grow more and more tender, their families decide to “correct” their daughters’ unbecoming behavior.

Warning: Spoiler alert! Read at your risk.

The film starts with Su Hee, dipping her face into the water thinking how her mother told her that she is all she has in this world. After dressing up, they went to their church where they bumped in with their pastor. She also met Han-na, the daughter of their pastor who’s having a break from studying abroad. After their introduction, the mass started and just like the other kids, Su Hee felt bored and sleepy. Her mother told her to go to the bathroom and wash her face so she could feel lively again.

Though her mother was calling her, Su Hee sat down on the stairs and stayed there for a while. She was pinching her nose while imagining that she was dipping her face in the water when someone patted her shoulder and asked her if she was fine. Su Hee gets shocked and when she opens her eyes, she sees a pink-haired girl. She asks who the girl is, and Han-na laughs because they met earlier. Su Hee didn’t recognize her because when they met earlier, she had black straight hair. And the girl beside her now has pink hair.

Han-na told her that she was wearing a wig earlier and pink was the color of her real hair. Han-na saw that her feet were bleeding and asked her if she was hurt. Su Hee says her shoe is just small for her feet. Han-na asks for her shoe size and she lends her slippers to her and it fits Su Hee. That afternoon, Su Hee went to Han-na’s place to return the slippers. Han-na invited her to come up to her house so she can return Su Hee’s shoes too. Su hee was looking at a beach photo that Han-na took when she went to Montauk.

Su Hee was so amazed by the beauty of the sunrise and said that she wanted to come there too. Han-na told her that it was really beautiful there and all she did was stare at the beautiful sunrise everything happened so fast that’s why it’s so memorable for her. Han-na showed her more photos of her and Su hee noticed that she changed her hair color a lot and the latter says that it puts her in a good mood when she dyes her hair. And suddenly, Han-na asks her if she wanted to dye her hair and she will help her look subtle. Han-na ended up coloring Su Hee’s hair and when the hair dye splashed on Han-na’s face, she asked Su Hee to remove it. But when Su Hee touches her face, she felt different.

At the next mass, Su Hee told her mother that she wanted to sit with her cell group. Her mother notices that she happily sat with Han-na. When the prayer started, Su Hee felt shocked when Han-na touched her hand and later on, she made their hands intertwined. They stepped out of the mass and went to a corner where no one else went. Han-na kissed Su Hee. But in the middle of the kiss, Su Hee felt that they were being followed but they ignored it and continued making out. After mass, Su Hee’s mom heard a rumor that Han-na dated a girl overseas before and that she was hanging out a lot with Su Hee.

The next scene shows Han-na brushing Su Hee’s hair while lying on a bed. Su Hee told her that she wants to go to the beach and Han-na told her that they can go on the weekend. But Su Hee is worried because Sunday is their church day. Over breakfast, Su Hee asks her mom if she can go out with friends on the weekend but her mother told her that they need to go to the church. The next day, her mother found out that sneaked out of their house and she discovered a pink hair strand on her bed.

The couple went to the beach and enjoyed the sunset and the sound of the waves. Han-na asks her why she always holds her breath and she also tells her that from now on, she doesn’t have to do that because it’s fine to just live. After she got home, Su Hee found her mom waiting for her. Her mom burst into anger and asked her where she went and who she was with. She also told her that she heard a rumor about her and Han-na and asked her if it was true. But Su He doesn’t have to answer. Her silence speaks a thousand words. Because of that, she was grounded.

At the church, Su Hee tries to look for Han-na but her mother stops her. But she found Han-na sitting on the other side of the church. The pastor tries to humiliate Su Hee in his sermon. Her mother noticed it so she stopped the pastor. An argument arises and suddenly, Han-na walks out of the church. Su Hee went to Han-na’s place to talk to her but the latter refused and sent her away. At home, Su Hee’s mother burst out of anger and slaps her because of the humiliation at their church. She told her that satan is just possessing her and that she should repent so God will forgive her. But she refused and told her mother that she was not a sinner. She told her mother to stop but the latter continue bowing and praying to God.

The film ends with Su Hee dipping her face in the water with a hand holding a crucifix drowning her. While drowning, she remembers all her happy memories with Han-na.

Writer’s thoughts:

This film tells a sensitive story about homosexuality and religion. We all know that a romantic relationship between the same gender was never a sin and it’s not God who’s stopping us to love someone of the same gender, sometimes, it’s society who’s giving us frightening emotional blackmail.

Watch ‘Su Hee’ on GagaOOLala.