Silent Treatment: Kim Minhee in On the Beach at Night Alone

Those who have recently discovered Kim Minhee will know her as the magnetic actress in Park Chan-wook’s lascivious thriller The Handmaiden, in which she made the clinical act of tooth-filing a new form of eroticism, and in Hong Sangsoo’s latest string of films, in which she often becomes the subject of soju-fueled courtship. But in the early years of her career, which began two decades ago, the thirty-seven-year-old star had a reputation for being one of the worst actresses in her home country. The Korean film site HanCinema once noted, “Kim didn’t appear to have the acting skills to match her attractive appearances.” “Attractive but blank” was a label often attached to the former model.

“Blank” is a curious word choice for Kim. In her six collaborations to date with Hong, now her real-life partner, she has proven to be the kind of performer who fills in the blanks. Hong’s camera often remains stationary, and Kim’s many quiet scenes within his still frames—solitary walks, idle moments in bed—serve as windows into her characters’ textured personalities. It is fascinating to see her be so subtly revealing when the details of her scandalous relationship with Hong, who was married when they began having an affair in 2016, have been so grotesquely exposed on gossip sites. At times, Kim doesn’t even seem to be acting—she simply exists. Yet this existence is not blankness; it creates a contemplative mood that invites us to imagine the inner lives of her characters.

The 2017 film On the Beach at Night Alone is perhaps the most interesting entry in the recent, prolific run of Hong-and-Kim collaborations. It’s certainly the most autobiographical. Kim plays Young-hee, an actress who travels to Germany after being forced into hiatus due to a failed extramarital relationship with a director. It’s a bold character choice considering Kim had suffered similar career repercussions when her affair with Hong came to light the year before: she has been heavily criticized in her home country, and though it’s unclear whether or not it has been an entirely personal choice, she has not since starred in a movie by another director. The scandal did not diminish her ability to emote; rather, we feel her courage in tapping into something so recent, personal, and possibly very painful, for the sake of art.

Still, Kim has a sense of humor about her circumstance, with a mischievously curving smile that gives her tongue-in-cheek deliveries an extra punch. Her famously high cheekbones are nestled right below her eyes and they push up to form a friendly crinkle whenever she smiles. That expression—complete with a knowing glint in her eye—is both childlike and flirtatious. It is no wonder that Young-hee’s friends keep calling her “charming.” Something about the fresh-faced Kim feels so new and naive, inviting many men to flock to her side, as is the case in so many of these movies. It is also a quality that makes men project feelings onto Kim, leading to misinterpretations that are turned into comedic gold through Hong’s astute navigation of modern courtship. At thirty-seven, Kim easily looks at least a decade younger, yet she reveals her age in the way she thwarts men with her sexual ease—that of a much more experienced woman—and vulnerably exposes residual hurt from years of romantic missteps and regrets. There’s something incredibly weathered behind her youthful veneer.