# Breath (숨) (2007 film)
**Breath** (숨; also romanized *Soom*) is a 2007 South Korean drama film written and directed by [Kim Ki-duk](https://www.edgepedia.org/kim-ki-duk), in which a married woman visits a condemned prisoner on death row and the two form a wordless attachment. It stars Park Zi-a as Yeon, Ha Jung-woo as her husband, and the Taiwanese actor [Chang Chen](https://www.edgepedia.org/chang-chen) as the inmate Jang Jin, and it competed for the [Palme d'Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor) at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/20070098) • [2](https://screenanarchy.com/2007/03/korean-film-news-kim-ki-duks-prison-drama-breath.html) • [3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20070098)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Korean title / director | 숨 (*Soom*), written and directed by Kim Ki-duk, his 14th feature[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/20070098) • [2](https://screenanarchy.com/2007/03/korean-film-news-kim-ki-duks-prison-drama-breath.html) |
| Cast | Park Zi-a (Yeon), Ha Jung-woo (the husband), Chang Chen (Jang Jin); Kim Ki-duk himself plays a prison official[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/20070098) • [4](https://www.oneindia.com/2007/05/20/cannes-sees-korean-debut-for-taiwans-chang-chen-1179641136.html) |
| Release | April 26, 2007, South Korea; 84 minutes; rated 15+[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/20070098) |
| Festival | In competition at the 60th Cannes Film Festival (2007)[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20070098) |
| Production | Wrapped January 20, 2007 after 15 days of shooting on a budget of 250 million won (about $265,227), filmed primarily in Seodaemun Prison, Seoul[2](https://screenanarchy.com/2007/03/korean-film-news-kim-ki-duks-prison-drama-breath.html) |
| Korean box office | 12 screens, 7,592 admissions, total gross $35,924[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20070098) |
| Award | Nominated for the 2007 Palme d'Or; won the Orient Express Section Special Jury Award (2008)[5](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/breath/2000127373/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Yeon, a woman who has discovered her husband's infidelity, sees television news of a condemned criminal's repeated suicide attempts and, without knowing him, makes her way to the prison where Jang Jin is confined. Their first meeting is awkward: she treats him like an old friend while he does not open up. She returns again and again, decorating the interview room for spring, summer, and fall and singing him seasonal tunes in dresses of the matching season. Jang Jin gradually accepts her efforts.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20070098)
The inmate's muteness is central to the design. In the backstory, Jang Jin stabs his own throat with a sharp awl in a suicide attempt and loses his voice; he returns to prison unable to speak.[6](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=21515) Chang Chen, who speaks no Korean, was cast partly for this reason. Kim Ki-duk told reporters after the Cannes press screening that he had wanted to cast "the image of Chang Chen" and that "the only way to cast the image and to get something different, was to do without language."[4](https://www.oneindia.com/2007/05/20/cannes-sees-korean-debut-for-taiwans-chang-chen-1179641136.html)
The relationship deepens under the observation of the warden, and Yeon gives Jang Jin the Four Seasons as a present. When her husband witnesses the intimacy between the two, he tries to separate them, and they cannot see each other again while Jang Jin's remaining time runs out. In the film's later movement, Yeon's Four Seasons performance is taken over by her husband and her daughter's out-staring game, and the family sings the song "Tombe la neige" together in the car on the way home, as a reconciliation.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20070098) • [7](https://www.biff.kr/eng/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=12211&pyear=2007)
## Production
Breath was Kim Ki-duk's 14th feature. It wrapped on January 20, 2007 after only 15 days of shooting on a budget of 250 million won (about $265,227), and was filmed primarily in Seodaemun Prison in Seoul; a set report from the final scene describes Kim shooting in a former Japanese colonial prison where [Korean independence movement](https://www.edgepedia.org/korean-independence-movement) fighters had once been tortured.[2](https://screenanarchy.com/2007/03/korean-film-news-kim-ki-duks-prison-drama-breath.html) • [8](https://www.screendaily.com/set-report-kim-ki-duks-breath/4031889.article) Kim also served as executive producer through his company Kim Ki Duk Film, with Song Myung-chul as producer and Kim Dong-chul as line producer; Cineclick Asia handled international sales and the Korean distributor was Sponge, which had released Kim's previous film *Time*.[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/20070098) • [2](https://screenanarchy.com/2007/03/korean-film-news-kim-ki-duks-prison-drama-breath.html)
Kim appears on screen as well, playing a shadowy prison official who controls the meetings of the two lovers. He said he was aiming at a wider psychological and social resonance: "I think there are always hidden people who control our society, who are invisible, whom we don't know," and he described the film as showing "the impossibility of communication between human beings and the difficulty of human relations and at the same time, the difficult relationship I have with Korean society."[4](https://www.oneindia.com/2007/05/20/cannes-sees-korean-debut-for-taiwans-chang-chen-1179641136.html)
## Release and reception
Before filming had even finished, Breath had sold to more than ten countries, including Spain, Brazil, Russia, Italy, Mexico, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Israel, and Turkey, with expectations of reaching 20 territories by Cannes; North American rights were held by Life Size Co., Ltd.[2](https://screenanarchy.com/2007/03/korean-film-news-kim-ki-duks-prison-drama-breath.html) At the 60th Cannes Film Festival it was one of two Korean films in the [Competition](https://www.edgepedia.org/competition) section, alongside [Lee Chang-dong](https://www.edgepedia.org/lee-chang-dong)'s *Secret Sunshine*.[9](https://www.kofic.or.kr/kofic/business/noti/findNewsDetail.do?seqNo=18865) It was also a strong seller at the Cannes Market, securing additional international distribution deals on top of its pre-sales.[10](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/news.jsp?blbdComCd=601006&mode=VIEW&pageRowSize=10&seq=678)
**Domestic reception.** Kim's films had collected prizes at major international festivals while performing poorly at home. Resentment over this had led him to state publicly in August 2006 that he would not release Breath in Korea unless *Time* secured 200,000 admissions; *Time* sold only about 30,000. His remarks shook the local industry, and as controversy spread he emailed local media saying he would "sever ties" with Korean cinema circles. He later retracted the pledge, and Breath opened in South Korea on April 26, 2007.[2](https://screenanarchy.com/2007/03/korean-film-news-kim-ki-duks-prison-drama-breath.html) At the box office it played on 12 screens and sold 7,592 admissions for a gross of $35,924.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20070098) The Cine21 database lists a higher figure of 12,293 admissions for the same release.[6](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=21515)
**Festivals and awards.** Beyond its Cannes Competition selection, the film circulated widely on the festival circuit, including Edinburgh, Helsinki, London (BFI), Melbourne, Stockholm, and [Mar del Plata](https://www.edgepedia.org/mar-del-plata), where it closed the festival in 2008.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20070098) It was nominated for the 2007 Palme d'Or and won the Orient Express Section Special Jury Award in 2008.[5](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/breath/2000127373/)
## Style and place in Kim Ki-duk's work
The Busan International Film Festival's program note places Breath among Kim's intimate dramas about outcasts, noting that the abrupt first meeting of the two leads is an exaggeration characteristic of his films such as *Bad Guy*, and that the gestures and performances of characters in closed spaces like the prison had become an increasingly explicit feature of his work after *[3-Iron](https://www.edgepedia.org/3-iron)*.[7](https://www.biff.kr/eng/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=12211&pyear=2007) A contemporary review described it as another minimalist oddity from Kim, praising the pacing and the performances of Chang Chen, who stays interesting while saying very little, and Park Zi-a, while observing that the film shares its setup with the earlier *3-Iron*: an unhappily married wife, her husband, and a silent stranger to whom she is attracted.[11](https://www.theoneliner.com/film689.html) • [10](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/news.jsp?blbdComCd=601006&mode=VIEW&pageRowSize=10&seq=678)
## A different film of the same year
A separate South Korean experimental short also titled *The Breath* (2007), directed by Jang Min-yong, uses images of bamboo shoots and silent-film technique to convey the interacting breath of a bamboo forest and the director; it runs 10 minutes and screened in the World Cinema Now section of the 2008 Palm Springs International Film Festival.[12](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20090361)
## References
1. [Breath (숨) film database entry, Filmmakers](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/20070098)
2. [Kim Ki-duk's Prison Drama "Breath" [숨], Screen Anarchy (Twitch Film), March 24, 2007](https://screenanarchy.com/2007/03/korean-film-news-kim-ki-duks-prison-drama-breath.html)
3. [Breath (2007), Korean Film Archive / KOFIC film database](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20070098)
4. [Cannes sees Korean debut for Taiwan's Chang Chen, Oneindia News (Reuters), May 20, 2007](https://www.oneindia.com/2007/05/20/cannes-sees-korean-debut-for-taiwans-chang-chen-1179641136.html)
5. [Breath, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/breath/2000127373/)
6. [숨 (The Breath), Cine21](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=21515)
7. [Breath, Busan International Film Festival archive, 12th festival (2007)](https://www.biff.kr/eng/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=12211&pyear=2007)
8. [Set report: Kim Ki-duk's Breath, Screen Daily, April 13, 2007](https://www.screendaily.com/set-report-kim-ki-duks-breath/4031889.article)
9. [제60회 칸 영화제, 한국영화 2편 경쟁부문 진출, KOFIC News, April 20, 2007](https://www.kofic.or.kr/kofic/business/noti/findNewsDetail.do?seqNo=18865)
10. [Cinematheque Busan Screens Subtitled Indies, KOFIC Korean Film News, June 7, 2007](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/news.jsp?blbdComCd=601006&mode=VIEW&pageRowSize=10&seq=678)
11. [Breath review, theOneliner.com, January 25, 2008](https://www.theoneliner.com/film689.html)
12. [The Breath (2007), KOFIC film database](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20090361)
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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 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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