The portrayal of personality and complex human relationships through the symbolism of fine art
I can state with absolute certainty that this title hides one of the most nerve-shredding dramas of recent years. Yet, on the surface, it shows nothing more than a deep psychological plunge into the dangerous whirlpools of romantic relationships.
"Reflection of You," says the official English title. The original Korean title means almost the same, though it offers a slightly different interpretation: "Someone Who Looks Like You."
Our reflection—especially if it reveals our inner self alongside our outer appearance—can be many things. It depends heavily on whether our mirror is cloudy, or if we are looking into a distorted glass. Furthermore, we do not even necessarily need to look into a physical mirror to see ourselves.
As the famous Hungarian poet Attila József once wrote: "It is in vain you bathe in your own self, you can only wash your face in another." This beautifully implies that we recognise our own true selves, our virtues, and our faults through the reflection of another human being. It is perhaps from each other that we can hope for redemption as well.
Two women stand at the very centre of this drama. The director provides us
with a striking visual aid to explore whether they reflect one another, or if
they discover themselves by being reflected in the other.
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| Author’s screenshot from ‘Reflection of You’ — Credit: JTBC/Netflix |
Since the drama is set entirely within the world of fine art, the director boldly employs the symbolism of colours to match this environment. One of the women is rarely seen without her green coat. Meanwhile, the shade of red dominates the wardrobe of the other.
In the colour wheel, contrasting colours facing each other are called complementary colours. Red and green form exactly such a pair. This combination creates an exceptionally intense, dramatic, and provocative visual tension. It serves as a perfect representation of the relationship between the two protagonists.
Throughout the drama, we will encounter countless other instances where the
characters' emotional states are expressed through specific colours,
paintings, or sculptures. One need only think of the symbolic mentions of the
changing shades of yellow, or its mixing with black at a crucial point in the
story.
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| Free AI picture from template.net |
Screenwriter Yoo Bo-ra adapted the script from a short story by author Jeong
So-hyeon. Since both creators are women, the drama is perhaps intentionally
highly female-centric. It showcases a wide array of female characters of
various ages and personalities. Naturally, alongside them, the narrative is by
no means lacking in fascinating male characters either.
The plot itself could be summarised very briefly. Two friends become bitter enemies when it is revealed that the older woman stole the younger one's boyfriend, who then launches a campaign of revenge against her.
One might think that this frequently told scenario could not possibly offer anything new. However, this is simply not the case here. Reflection of You is a genuine masterpiece within its genre. This holds true for its psychological depth, its method of storytelling, and the gradual unfolding of the conflict. It is also evident in the meticulously measured pacing with which the actions of the secondary characters impact the overarching story.
Ultimately, we become part of a consistently tense narrative filled with unpredictable twists. The pacing, the visual world, and every single backdrop represent exceptionally high-quality work. This is all thanks to the entire crew working under the direction of Lim Hyeon-wook.
We will delve deeper into the fine art elements shortly. However, we must
first highlight the dramatic, expressionistic use of landscapes and majestic
natural phenomena. The interior spaces are frequently treated with a similarly
painting-like, deliberate lighting.
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| Author’s screenshots from ‘Reflection of You’ — Credit: JTBC/Netflix |
Actress Go Hyun-jung brings to life the older female figure of the story, Jeong Hee-joo. Her character is a peculiar mixture of artificial humility and a prideful arrogance rooted in her achieved social status.
Despite her humble family background, she managed to marry into a chaebol family. Her husband is the designated heir to this empire. However, his mother considers him completely unfit for the position, precisely because of his marriage to Hee-joo.
Although the husband stands by Hee-joo, neither of them can stop the
tyrannical mother-in-law from destroying their family life. She practically
claims ownership over their children to raise them according to her own strict
ideals.
It is difficult to decide whether Hee-joo is actually a good mother. She worries constantly, yet she fails to notice any of the real troubles her children face. She is mostly preoccupied with maintaining her "dream position" as a Cinderella-turned-princess. For this, she tolerates being treated like a servant by her mother-in-law, though she still finds herself a little bored in her spare time.
While thinking about pursuing some form of self-actualisation on her husband’s
advice, a brilliantly young, vibrant woman steps into her life. This is Goo
Hae-won (played by Shin Hyun-been), who brings entirely new colours into
Hee-joo's world.
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| Go Hyun-jung as Jeong Hee-joo & Shin Hyun-been as Goo Hae-won in ‘Reflection of You’ — Credit: JTBC/Netflix |
The young girl is a highly promising art student. Following her lead, Hee-joo
also begins to learn drawing and proves to be surprisingly talented. Hae-won
dreams of becoming a successful painter and living happily with her love, Seo
Woo-jae (played by Kim Jae-young). Before long, Woo-jae also becomes involved
in teaching art to Hee-joo. It is at this moment that the idyllic relationship
between the two women shattered.
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| Author’s screenshots from ‘Reflection of You’ — Credit: JTBC/Netflix |
Woo-jae is a true, unconventional artist. He is immensely talented, and though
he knows no compromise when it comes to creation, he still struggles under the
shadow of his even more accomplished father. He is perfectly content as
Hae-won’s partner, and the naive girl urges him to tie the knot, even if only
on paper.
However, the man's attention is drawn away from her by a much larger "prize." He becomes fascinated by the significantly older, seemingly unattainable Hee-joo, whose delicate features he discovers while sketching her.
Interestingly, there is a real-life 17-year age gap between the two actors. While this difference was noticeable on screen, it completely dissolved in the incredible chemistry between them. The young man is as beautiful as a statue and knows no boundaries. Therefore, this model wife—who is open to adventure despite her wealth—cannot truly resist his courtship, or perhaps she simply does not want to.
Soon, an unexpected twist occurs. Hee-joo travels abroad to help her child who is studying there. Meanwhile, Woo-jae vanishes without a trace from Hae-won's life, leaving the young girl to search for him desperately.
We pick up the thread of the story again many years later, after a massive time jump. Hae-won suddenly reappears in the life of Hee-joo, who is now living back home. Hee-joo can barely recognise her.
The young woman becomes an absolute nightmare for her. She systematically stalks the members of Hee-joo's family. For reasons that are not yet entirely clear to us, she carries out what can only be described as a punitive campaign against her former friend.
Before long, Woo-jae reappears on the scene as well. He is completely vulnerable to the girl. Due to an accident, he cannot remember a single thing about his past with her.
During this intense cat-and-mouse game, both women manipulate the young man,
who is lost in a sea of uncertainty. Just like Woo-jae, we as viewers must
piece together what happened during that lost time through fragmented
flashbacks.
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| Shin Hyun-been as Goo Hae-won, Go Hyun-jung as Jeong Hee-joo & Kim Jae-young as Seo Woo-jae in ‘Reflection of You’ — Credit: JTBC/Netflix |
In the present, all three are connected by a new location: the gallery where they are forced to cooperate with one another. Woo-jae seeks to restart his professional career, whereas Hae-won has entirely abandoned her artistic ambitions. Hee-joo has become a highly successful painter and author. Curiously, the sole subject of her paintings is her own daughter.
Countless secondary characters enter the narrative, each holding up a mirror to the two female protagonists through their own fates. However, every one of them remains a fully fleshed-out character in their own right, making it almost impossible to list them all.
Each character represents some sort of troubled situation. The drama explores themes of school and domestic abuse, unfit parents and spouses, adolescent and adult friendships, voluntary guardianship, guilt, and the tyranny of blame. It also delves into corruption, vulnerability, and the endurance of authoritarian abuse, among many other issues.
Questions of faith also emerge as we visit a church. Yet, it is a strange
little pub that appears as a sort of earthly Purgatory, where the owner is
uniquely capable of easing the burdens of the souls who wander in. Alongside
all of this, we closely follow the adolescent loneliness of Li-sa (Kim Su-an). Her sharp
awareness of her situation and her defiant struggle to find answers form a
compelling coming-of-age story wrapped inside the larger drama.
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| Choi Won-young as Hee-joo's husband and Kim Su-an as their daughter, Li-sa in ‘Reflection of You’ — Credit: JTBC/Netflix |
In their own ways, a monster emerges from both women. Hae-won becomes entirely
consumed by her own pain, giving it free rein and feeling entitled to anything
because of it. Meanwhile, Hee-joo arrogantly believes she can step over
anyone, confident that her social status protects her from ever facing the
consequences of her actions.
Torment and madness blend within both of them. It is impossible to praise the performances of the two lead actresses enough. Within the intense field of force between them, the drama’s two main male figures attempt to stand their ground, while also having their own unsettled business with each other.
Although Hee-joo’s husband (played by Choi Won-young) appears to be a sympathetic, caring partner and father, he is actually playing a theatrical role just like his wife. The fascination of his character lies in the fact that we spend the entire time waiting for him to finally play his winning card.
At first, he is merely weak in the face of his mother. Later, whether out of
genuine love or sheer cowardice against disrupting the status quo, he clings
to appearances so tightly that by the very end, he is no longer even dealt a
hand in the game.
Still, Woo-jae's situation is the most difficult. Kim Jae-young showcases every single nuance of the character's various emotional stages with incredible sensitivity. We see him in three fundamentally distinct states throughout the story.
In the flashbacks, we find a different young man from the slightly arrogant, self-willed person who is fully aware of his own charms. We see a man who can sacrifice everything for his personal happiness—a kind and deeply feeling lover who is willing to claim a child as his own, even when he cannot be certain of his paternity.
In the second phase, all of this dissolves into nothing. It is genuinely painful to watch his hesitation as he drowns in helplessness due to his extreme vulnerability. Yet, even when his conscious mind fails him, his feelings still act as a reliable compass.
In the third phase, when he finally awakens to what was done to him, he loses his sanity. Even though he sees the utter irreality of it, he stubbornly demands back everything he was stripped of. Despite this multi-layered psychological portrait, Woo-jae’s figure remains somewhat more loosely sketched compared to the female leads. At times, one feels that his transformations and experiences are somewhat artificially subordinated to the women's narrative.
However, we can observe a remarkable stroke of directorial genius: it is
Woo-jae’s artwork that speaks for the hidden elements of his personality. Upon
his return, even before they meet in person, Hee-joo encounters his sculptures
first, without knowing the identity of the artist.
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| Author’s screenshots from ‘Reflection of You’ — Credit: JTBC/Netflix |
"The Meaning of Silence, from Drawings to Sculpture," reads the title on the brochure of the upcoming exhibition. Through these sculptures, we are introduced to a deeply lonely, sorrowful, and introspective Woo-jae with blurred facial features. We receive the distinct impression of a man thinking deeply about the weight of life.
The sculptures displayed in the drama possess such an elemental power that I became highly curious about their actual creator. After some investigation, I came across an article listing the names of the artists who contributed the drawings, paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and even the clothing worn by the characters: Bae Hyung-kyung, Park Dae-sung, Go Young-hoon, Oh Soo-hwan, Kim Deok-yong, Ethan Cook, Lee Kyung, Shin Soo-jin, and Go Hyun-jung.
The production team paid extraordinary attention to fitting these various
creations seamlessly into their environments, whether they were residential or
office interiors, artists' studios, or gallery exhibitions. The costumes were
chosen with the same meticulous deliberation, as was the animated graphic of
the title card, which beautifully transformed the words of the title into a
visual poem.
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| Author’s screenshots from ‘Reflection of You’ — Credit: JTBC/Netflix |
Among the artworks, we can see both authentic pieces and ones created to evoke
the specific style of a particular artist. Woo-jae’s sculptures are
unequivocally the creations of Bae Hyung-kyung, including both original pieces
and replicas. Furthermore, this stylistic homage was so detailed that towards
the end of the series, we see Woo-jae experimenting with the exact same
reddish-toned sculptures that can be seen at Bae’s real-life exhibitions (who
is notably also a female artist).
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| Kim Jae-young as Seo Woo-jae in ‘Reflection of You’ — Credit: JTBC/Netflix |
This act of looking into a mirror and the urge for self-reflection apply
not only to the characters but to the viewers as well. As the story hurtles
towards a finale that brings redemption to some and tragedy to others, there
is not a single element of this drama that does not feel heart-wrenching to
experience. In the labyrinth of human relationships, we too sometimes lose our
way, or witness those around us becoming similarly misguided.
Along the way, we sustain wounds, inflict wounds, survive, or perish. The most painful realization is that casualties are left on the field—individuals who are not necessarily innocent, but who certainly did not deserve their tragic fates. This is precisely how I feel about the conclusion of this drama; my heart aches most of all for the one who was ultimately eliminated from the game.
The lead actors are so exceptional that their every facial expression and gaze fill the immense field of force, creating a tension so thick that we barely notice the passing of time. The child and young adult actors (Kim Su-an, Shin Hye-ji, Kim Dong-ha) are magnificent.
The same high praise goes to the chaebol matriarch (Kim Bo-yeon), the ultimate avenging psychiatrist wife (Jang Hye-jin), her wretched husband (Hong Seo-jun), and the various mothers, fathers, and grandfathers (Lee Ho-jae, Seo Jung-hyeon, Seo Jin-won). The vibrant friend (Park Sung-yeon), the repentant brother (Shin Dong-wook), the mother turned into a parasite by grief (Kang Ae-shim), the wonderful pub owner (Kim Sang-ho), and the gallery director (Kim Ho-jung) all deliver stellar performances.
Finally, mention must be made of the series' musical score. It underscores the
visual frames with great sensitivity and delicacy, providing the necessary
dramatic weight when required, a quality that rings equally true for the
original soundtrack songs as well.
[1]
József Attila: No Shriek of Mine (Nem én kiáltok)
Translated by Frederick Turner & Zsuzsanna Ozsváth
Magyarul Bábelben website
[2]
Channel: [예감시] 예술감상의 시작
Video: [갤러리 Tour]배형경/ “ Color Weight , 彩色荷重”展_갤러리시몬.2019.11.07~2020.01.11 (YouTube)
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