Parasite

The film, starring Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, Jang Hye-jin, Park Myung-hoon, and Lee Jung-eun, follows a poor family who infiltrate a wealthy family.

The script is based on a play Bong wrote in 2013. He later adapted it into a 15-page film draft, and Han split it into three different drafts. Bong said he was inspired by the 1960 Korean film The Housemaid and by the Christine and Léa Papin incident in the 1930s. Filming began in May 2018 and finished that September. The project included cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo, film editor Yang Jin-mo, and composer Jung Jae-il. Darcy Paquet, an American film critic and author, provided English translations for the film’s international release.

Parasite premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2019, where it became the first Korean film to win its top prize, the Palme d’Or. It was released in South Korea by CJ Entertainment on 30 May, and was praised for Bong’s direction and screenplay, and also for its editing and production design. It grossed over $263 million worldwide on a $15.5 million budget.

Among its numerous accolades, Parasite won a leading four Academy Awards at the 92nd Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film, becoming the first non-English-language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.[note 1] It is the first South Korean film to receive any Academy Award recognition, and one of only three films overall to win both the Palme d’Or and the Academy Award for Best Picture, the first such achievement in over 60 years.

Leaving to study abroad, he suggests that the Kims’ son, Ki-woo, pose as a university student to take over his job as an English language tutor for Da-hye, the daughter of the rich Park family. After his sister Ki-jung helps create a false certificate for him in Photoshop, Ki-woo, posing as a Yonsei University student, is hired by the Parks.

The Kims scheme to get each of them a job with the Parks. Ki-woo recommends “Jessica”, actually Ki-jung, as an art therapist for the Parks’ young son, Da-song, who has been traumatised after seeing a “ghost” in their kitchen. Ki-jung frames Yoon, Mr Park’s chauffeur, by making it appear he had a sexual encounter in the car, then recommends her relatives’ chauffeur, in actuality her father, Ki-taek, to take his place. The Kims exploit the peach allergy of the Parks’ longtime housekeeper, Moon-gwang, to convince Mrs Park that she has tuberculosis, and the Kim matriarch, Chung-sook, is hired as her replacement. Ki-woo begins a secret romantic relationship with Da-hye.

When the Parks take a camping trip, the Kims revel in the luxuries of the house. Moon-gwang appears at the door, telling Chung-sook she left something in the basement. She goes through a hidden entrance to an underground bunker created by the architect and previous homeowner (who was too embarrassed to inform the Parks of its existence). There, Moon-gwang’s husband, Geun-sae, is revealed to be living in the bunker while hiding from loan sharks; he is also revealed to be the “ghost” Da-song saw attempting to come out of the bunker to steal groceries from the Parks’ refrigerator.

The Parks call to say that they are returning early due to a severe rainstorm. The Kims subdue Moon-gwang and Geun-sae, tying them up and hiding them in the bunker. Ki-jung, Ki-taek, and Ki-woo hide under a table, and overhear Mr Park’s comments about Ki-taek’s odor, one he associates with lower-class people. The Kims eventually escape, but the torrential rain floods their flat with sewer water, forcing them to take shelter in a gymnasium with other, similarly displaced people.

The next day, Mrs Park hosts a house party for Da-song’s birthday with the elder Kims’ assistance; the younger Kims are invited as guests. Ki-woo enters the bunker with his scholar’s rock to kill Geun-sae and Moon-gwang. Moon-gwang is already dead from a concussion she received during the previous day’s brawl, but Ki-woo is attacked by Geun-sae, who uses the rock to knock Ki-woo out, leaving him lying in a pool of blood in the basement. Geun-sae then stabs Ki-jung with a kitchen knife in front of the horrified guests. Da-song suffers another seizure upon seeing Geun-sae again.

Geun-sae and Chung-sook grapple with each other; she fatally impales him with a barbecue skewer. While Ki-taek tends to Ki-jung, Mr Park orders him to drive Da-song to the hospital. In the chaos, Ki-taek, upon seeing Mr Park’s disgusted reaction to Geun-sae’s odor, angrily kills him with the knife, then flees.

Weeks later, Ki-woo is recovering from brain surgery. He and Chung-sook are convicted of fraud and put on probation. Ki-jung has died from her injury, and Ki-taek has disappeared. Geun-sae is assumed to have been a homeless man, and neither his nor Ki-taek’s motive for the murders are known. Ki-woo spies on the Parks’ former home, now owned by a German family, and sees a message in Morse code from a kitchen light. Ki-taek, hiding in the bunker, has buried Moon-gwang in the garden and sends the message every day, hoping Ki-woo will see it. Still living in their basement flat with his mother, Ki-woo writes a letter to Ki-taek, vowing to earn enough money to buy the house and free him.