Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
| Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring | |
|---|---|
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| Hangul | 봄 |
| Revised Romanization | Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom |
| McCune–Reischauer | Pom yŏrŭm kaŭl kyŏul kŭrigo pom |
| Directed by | Kim Ki-duk |
| Produced by |
Karl Baumgartner Lee Seung-jae |
| Written by | Kim Ki-duk |
| Starring |
Oh Yeong-su Kim Young-min Seo Jae-kyung Kim Jong-ho Ha Yeo-jin |
| Music by | Bark Jee-woong |
| Cinematography | Baek Dong-hyeon |
| Edited by | Kim Ki-duk |
| Distributed by | Cineclick Asia |
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Release date
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Running time
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103 minutes |
| Country | South Korea Germany |
| Language | Korean |
| Box office | $9,524,745 |
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (also known as Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring) is a 2003 South Korean film directed by Kim Ki-duk about a Buddhist monastery that floats on a lake in a pristine forest. The story is about the life of a Buddhist monk as he passes through the seasons of his life, from childhood to old age.
The film stars Su Oh-yeong, Kim Young-min, Seo Jae-kyung and Kim Jong-ho. The director himself appears as the man in the last stage of life. This quiet, contemplative film marked a significant change from his previous works, which were often criticized for excessive violence and misogyny. The film was released in the United States in 2004 by Sony Pictures Classics, in subtitle format.
The film is divided into five segments (the titular seasons), each segment depicting a stage in the life of a novice Buddhist monk and his older teacher. The segments are roughly ten to twenty years apart, and the action of each takes place during the season of its title. The story unfolds rather simply, but the implications of the characters' actions are silently commented upon by the presence of Buddhist symbols and iconography.
We are introduced to the life of the very young Buddhist apprentice living with his master on a small floating monastery, drifting on a lake in the serene forested mountains of Korea. The apprentice and his master live a life of prayer and meditation, using an old rowboat to reach the bank of the lake where they regularly go walking, for exercise and to collect herbs.
One day, in a creek among the rocky hills, the apprentice torments a fish by tying a small stone to it with string and laughing as it struggles to swim. Shortly after, he does the same to a frog and a snake; his master quietly observes on all three occasions, and that night ties a large, smooth rock to the apprentice as he sleeps. In the morning, he tells his apprentice that he cannot take off the rock until he unties the creatures he tormented—adding that if any of them have died, he will "carry the stone in his heart forever". The boy struggles with the load on his back through the forest, and finds the fish, lying dead at the bottom of the creek, finds the frog still alive and struggling where he left it, and finds the snake in a pool of blood, presumably attacked and killed by another animal, unable to get away. The master watches as the boy begins to cry heavily at seeing what he has done to the snake.
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