# April Snow (외출)
**April Snow** (외출) is a 2005 South Korean romantic drama film directed by Hur Jin-ho, in which a man and a woman meet after their adulterous spouses are involved in a car accident together.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/april_snow) It stars [Bae Yong-joon](https://www.edgepedia.org/bae-yong-joon) and [Son Ye-jin](https://www.edgepedia.org/son-ye-jin) as the two strangers, with Lim Sang-hyo and Kim Gwang-il in supporting roles.[2](https://namu.moe/w/%EC%99%B8%EC%B6%9C%28%EC%98%81%ED%99%94%29) The film opened in South Korea on September 7, 2005 and in Japan on September 17, 2005.[2](https://namu.moe/w/%EC%99%B8%EC%B6%9C%28%EC%98%81%ED%99%94%29)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and cast | Hur Jin-ho; Bae Yong-joon (In-su), Son Ye-jin (Seo-young), Lim Sang-hyo (Su-jin), Kim Gwang-il[2](https://namu.moe/w/%EC%99%B8%EC%B6%9C%28%EC%98%81%ED%99%94%29) • [1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/april_snow) |
| Release | South Korea September 7, 2005; Japan September 17, 2005; 105 minutes[2](https://namu.moe/w/%EC%99%B8%EC%B6%9C%28%EC%98%81%ED%99%94%29) |
| Korean box office | 809,191 admissions, a commercial disappointment in Korea[2](https://namu.moe/w/%EC%99%B8%EC%B6%9C%28%EC%98%81%ED%99%94%29) |
| Japanese market | Pre-sold before completion for at least 7 million dollars, then a record price for a Korean film in Japan; theatrical revenue approached 30 billion won, and the DVD reached number 1 on the Oricon DVD chart[3](https://www.seoulfc.or.kr/enterprise/seoul_2006.pdf) • [2](https://namu.moe/w/%EC%99%B8%EC%B6%9C%28%EC%98%81%ED%99%94%29) |
| Production | Blue Storm Production, distributed by Show East; filmed February 4 to June 18, 2005; music by Jo Sung-woo[2](https://namu.moe/w/%EC%99%B8%EC%B6%9C%28%EC%98%81%ED%99%94%29) • [1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/april_snow) |
| Director's cut | The DVD and Blu-ray director's cut runs 139 minutes, adding scenes including a kiss scene[2](https://namu.moe/w/%EC%99%B8%EC%B6%9C%28%EC%98%81%ED%99%94%29) |
## Spoilers
### Story and characters
The premise places two strangers in an unfamiliar city after a car accident: In-su (Bae Yong-joon) and Seo-young (Son Ye-jin) each learn that their spouses were having an affair with each other, because the spouses were riding together when the crash occurred.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/april_snow) While one spouse lies near death, the two keep vigil at the hospital and gradually begin a relationship of their own, first as a mirror of revenge and then, in the audience account, out of love.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/april_snow)
A Korean Film Archive publication describes the film's emotional register as shifting between coldness and the sweetness of a melodrama, and notes that within the couple's relationship Seo-young is consistently written as the braver and less hesitant of the two.[4](https://book.koreafilm.or.kr/00/02/36/DBKM006814_01.pdf) Lim Sang-hyo plays Su-jin, In-su's wife; it was her final screen appearance before she retired from acting after her 2006 marriage.[2](https://namu.moe/w/%EC%99%B8%EC%B6%9C%28%EC%98%81%ED%99%94%29) • [5](https://www.ottrank.kr/person/1062028)
## Production
The screenplay is credited to Shin Jun-ho, Seo Yu-min, Hur Jin-ho, Lee Won-sik, and Lee Il, with adaptation credited to Kim Hyo-kwan and Lee Suk-yeon.[4](https://book.koreafilm.or.kr/00/02/36/DBKM006814_01.pdf) The film was an unusual case of novelization: the screenplay was completed first, and the novelist Kim Hyeong-kyung was then commissioned, publishing a same-titled novel in 2005 alongside the film's release.[6](https://memory.library.kr/files/original/0f80eba16e20e8abfc01f5755cd799cb.pdf)
[Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) ran from February 4 to June 18, 2005.[2](https://namu.moe/w/%EC%99%B8%EC%B6%9C%28%EC%98%81%ED%99%94%29) The film was rated 18 and over in Korea, although a retrospective note observes that the explicit scenes are brief and moderate for the rating.[2](https://namu.moe/w/%EC%99%B8%EC%B6%9C%28%EC%98%81%ED%99%94%29)
## Commercial performance and the Japanese market
**Korea versus Japan.** In South Korea the film drew 809,191 admissions and is described as a box-office failure there.[2](https://namu.moe/w/%EC%99%B8%EC%B6%9C%28%EC%98%81%ED%99%94%29) In Japan the outcome was the opposite. Bae Yong-joon, known in Japan by the nickname Yon-sama as a leading figure of the [Korean Wave](https://www.edgepedia.org/korean-wave), anchored the film's value: *April Snow* was pre-sold to Japan before completion for at least 7 million dollars (about 7 billion won), the highest price to that point for a Korean film sold to Japan, allowing the production to recoup its budget before release.[3](https://www.seoulfc.or.kr/enterprise/seoul_2006.pdf) Japanese theatrical revenue came to nearly 30 billion won, and the DVD, both the making-of edition and the feature, reached number 1 on the Oricon DVD chart.[2](https://namu.moe/w/%EC%99%B8%EC%B6%9C%28%EC%98%81%ED%99%94%29) The film was part of a broader 2005 wave in which Korean films with hallyu stars, including Bae Yong-joon's *April Snow*, were pre-sold to Japan at high prices, helping Korean film exports reach 41,809,976 dollars in the first half of 2005 across 153 films sold to 52 countries.[3](https://www.seoulfc.or.kr/enterprise/seoul_2006.pdf) • [7](https://news.nate.com/view/20050822n03173)
## Place in Hur Jin-ho's work
Hur Jin-ho debuted as a director in 1997, and his films from *Christmas in August* (1998) through *Rain and Rain* (2009) are marked by male protagonists who embody gentleness rather than violence.[8](https://journal.kci.go.kr/djnar/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002317765) A scholarly study groups *April Snow* with *Happiness* (2007) as films about relationships that begin in avoidance of a bond already marked by finitude, in contrast to his earlier films about accepting finitude.[8](https://journal.kci.go.kr/djnar/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002317765) In English-language criticism, the reviewer Dan Sallitt of *Senses of Cinema* wrote that Hur Jin-ho defers the melodrama as long as possible in his quiet, stoical way, while judging that the characters remain pawns of a purely sentimental story.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/april_snow)
## References
1. [April Snow, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/april_snow)
2. [외출(영화), Namu wiki](https://namu.moe/w/%EC%99%B8%EC%B6%9C%28%EC%98%81%ED%99%94%29)
3. [seoul_2006, Seoul Film Commission (Korean film export figures)](https://www.seoulfc.or.kr/enterprise/seoul_2006.pdf)
4. [Film양 총서 05, Korean Film Archive](https://book.koreafilm.or.kr/00/02/36/DBKM006814_01.pdf)
5. [배우 임상효 프로필, 오뜨랑](https://www.ottrank.kr/person/1062028)
6. [박찬욱 감독, 질투는 나의 힘 (Korean film memory archive, on Hur Jin-ho filmography and the April Snow novelization)](https://memory.library.kr/files/original/0f80eba16e20e8abfc01f5755cd799cb.pdf)
7. [2005년 한국영화 수출대박 예감, 상반기 420억, Nate News](https://news.nate.com/view/20050822n03173)
8. [허진호 영화의 유한한 사랑과 부드러운 남자들, 배새롬, 한국연극학회지](https://journal.kci.go.kr/djnar/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002317765)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2000s › Romantic drama films 2000s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license