My Mother, the Mermaid

My Mother, the Mermaid
Theatrical poster
Hangul	인어공주
Hanja	人漁公主
RR	Ineogongju
MR	Inŏkongju
Directed by	Park Heung-shik
Produced by	Han Hyeong-sok Nam Dok-u Lee Gyeong-hwan
Written by	Park Heung-shik Song Hye-jin
Starring	Jeon Do-yeon Park Hae-il Ko Du-shim
Music by	Sung-woo Jo
Cinematography	Choi Yeong-taek
Distributed by	CJ Entertainment
Release date(s)	June 30, 2004 (2004-06-30)
Running time	110 min
Country	South Korea
Language	Korean
Admissions	620,000

My Mother, the Mermaid (인어공주, Ineo gongju) is a 2004 South Korean film about a young woman who quarrels with her mother but is somehow transported back in time and sees her parents' courtship. In her youth, her mother was a haenyeo, a traditional freediver.

IMDB claims the literal translation of the title is The Little Mermaid.[1] However a more exact translation of 인어공주 is understood by looking at its Hanja roots; 人漁公主. 人漁 mean 'mermaid' [2] and 公主 means '(royal) princess'[3]. So a true literal translation should be The Mermaid Princess.

Synopsis

Na-young is an office worker who lives with her seemingly emotionally non-existent father; Jin-kook, and loud cynical mother; Yeon-soon. As time passes she is becoming more and more like her mother Yeon-soon.

One day her father suddenly disappears and she skips her international airplane flight to find him. By entering her father's hometown she is somehow transported back in time to when her parents' relationship was just beginning. She meets her mother; now a poor woman working hard as a haenyeo to send her younger brother to school to get the education she never received. Her father is a charming man who delivers the mail and befriends / teaches Yeon-soon how to read and write.

Na-Young is taken in by the young Yeon-soon and, as they are now roughly the same age, the two become very close. Na-Young is able to experience the trials, heartbreaks, and celebrations of Yeon-soon before she herself is suddenly transported back into the present time.

Cast

Jeon Do-yeon as Na-young
Jeon Do-yeon as young Yeon-soon
Park Hae-il as young Jin-kook
Ko Du-shim as Yeon-soon
Kim Bong-geun as Jin-kook

External links

• My Mother the Mermaid at the Internet Movie Database
• My Mother, the Mermaid at HanCinema