# The Letter (편지) (1997 film)
**The Letter** (편지) is a 1997 South Korean melodrama feature film directed by Lee Jung-guk, starring [Choi Jin-sil](https://www.edgepedia.org/choi-jin-sil) and Park Shin-yang as a couple whose marriage is cut short by the husband's terminal illness, and who continues to reach his wife through letters written before his death.[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/00003365) It was the highest-grossing Korean film of 1997 and placed fourth at the national box office among all films that year.[2](https://www.donga.com/news/Culture/article/all/20070127/8400687/1)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Korean title / romanization | 편지 (Pyeonji), released abroad as *The Letter*[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/00003365) |
| Director / screenwriters | Lee Jung-guk; screenplay by Jo Hwan-yu, Lee Jung-guk, and Kim Mu-ryeong, from an original plan by Shin Cine[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/00003365) |
| Production | Art Cinema, 1997; feature, 102 minutes, 35mm color[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/00003365) • [3](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/cinematheque/programs/PI_00576) |
| Genre | Melodrama, sinpa (Korean tearjerker tradition)[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/00003365) |
| Leads | Choi Jin-sil as Jung-in; Park Shin-yang as Hwan-yu[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/00003365) |
| 1997 box office | First place among Korean films, fourth place overall[2](https://www.donga.com/news/Culture/article/all/20070127/8400687/1) |
| Critics' poll | Tied for fifth in the Hankyung newspaper's 1997 film-of-the-year selection[4](https://www.hankyung.com/article/1997121902491) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Jung-in, a graduate student in Korean literature, is rushing onto a train at a station when she collides with a man coming from the opposite platform; she boards, only to discover she has dropped her ticket. The man, Hwan-yu, who works in a research lab at an arboretum and is preparing to study abroad, chases her by taxi to return the ticket.[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/00003365)
When they meet again at the arboretum, Hwan-yu proposes a coin toss: heads and he will marry Jung-in, tails and he leaves for his studies as planned. The coin comes up heads, and the two marry, setting up their newlywed home in the arboretum's official residence and living what the synopsis calls days happier than anyone's.[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/00003365)
The happiness ends when Hwan-yu, after a day of feeling unwell, collapses and is diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Told by his doctor that there is no hope, he undergoes surgery anyway for Jung-in's sake, and asks her not to give up her chance to teach because of him. One evening he closes his eyes while listening to her voice reading a book of poems.[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/00003365)
After his death, Jung-in lives a life she describes as like being dead each day. A neighbor, seeing her state, arranges for her juniors from school to take her back to Seoul; but at the moment the car leaves, she finds a letter from Hwan-yu and stays, waiting for a letter every day. She then realizes she is pregnant with his child. The letters continue, and Jung-in cleans the house again and prepares to begin a new life.[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/00003365)
## Cast and production
Choi Jin-sil played Jung-in and Park Shin-yang played Hwan-yu. The supporting cast included Choi Yong-min as Byeong-il, Lee Joon-seop as Yeong-hoon, Song Kwang-su as Myeong-ho, Nam Sang-mi as Myeong-ho's wife, Park Jong-cheol as Professor Hwang, Lee In-ok as Jung-in's mother, and others in smaller roles.[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/00003365)
The film was produced by Art Cinema on an original plan by Shin Cine, the production house credited as the source work, with a screenplay credited to Jo Hwan-yu, Lee Jung-guk, and Kim Mu-ryeong.[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/00003365) The Korean Film Archive lists it as a 102-minute 35mm feature.[3](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/cinematheque/programs/PI_00576) A VHS edition was manufactured in 1998 by Dongseong Production and sold by Starmax, running 93 minutes and rated 15 and older.[1](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/00003365)
## Reception
**Box office.** In a 2007 retrospective on the decline of Korean melodrama, the Dong-A Ilbo counted *The Letter*, starring Choi Jin-sil and Park Shin-yang, as a orthodox melodrama that took first place among Korean films and fourth place overall at the 1997 box office; the same article places Jang Yun-hyeon's *Contact* (접속), also from 1997, second among Korean films and sixth overall.[2](https://www.donga.com/news/Culture/article/all/20070127/8400687/1)
**Critical standing.** In the Hankyung newspaper's year-end poll of six critics, *The Letter* tied with *Contact* for fifth place among Korean films of 1997, behind *[Green Fish](https://www.edgepedia.org/green-fish)* (first), *No. 3* (second), *Beat* (third), and *[Bad Movie](https://www.edgepedia.org/bad-movie)* (fourth). Critic Cho Hye-jung described it as "a familiar love story prettily polished, yet an astonishing magic of tears."[4](https://www.hankyung.com/article/1997121902491)
## Place in 1990s Korean melodrama
*The Letter* belongs to the wave of Korean melodramas of the late 1990s that also included *[Christmas in August](https://www.edgepedia.org/christmas-in-august)* (1998) and *The Promise* (1998). A study in *Comparative Culture Studies* notes that this run of films is commonly explained by the crisis of masculinity brought on by the IMF economic crisis: male protagonists, no longer able to draw on firm patriarchal authority, approached women as gentler, more affectionate figures, and sometimes met tragic fates through unavoidable death from incurable illness. The study records that this male-centered melodrama was noted at the time as a scene in which, for the first time, the man stood at the center of love, in melodramas previously led by female characters.[5](https://journal.kci.go.kr/ccs/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002813506)
A survey history of Korean film likewise groups *The Letter* (Lee Jung-guk, 1997) with *Ginkgo Bed* (1995) and *Ghost Mama* (1996) as typical forms of the revived melodrama, while treating *Contact* and *Christmas in August* as a newer type that foregrounded soft male figures and everyday drama rather than conflict.[6](https://blackskein.tistory.com/7) The Korean Film Archive's 2012 retrospective program "Korean Films of the Late 1990s We Loved," based on a survey of 1,065 site members, included *The Letter* among the 21 screenable films from the top 50 vote-getters of 1996 to 1999.[3](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/cinematheque/programs/PI_00576)
## References
1. [편지, 영상도서관 자료검색, 한국영상자료원 (Korean Film Archive)](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/00003365)
2. [눈물 흘리는 '멜로'… 잇단 흥행참패, 동아일보 (2007)](https://www.donga.com/news/Culture/article/all/20070127/8400687/1)
3. [우리가 사랑한 90년대 후반 한국영화 시리즈 1, 시네마테크KOFA, 한국영상자료원](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/cinematheque/programs/PI_00576)
4. [1위 방화 초록물고기/외화 파고 선정, 한국경제 (1997)](https://www.hankyung.com/article/1997121902491)
5. [비교문화연구 제65집 (2022), 한국비교문학회](https://journal.kci.go.kr/ccs/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002813506)
6. [1970년대 ~ 1990년대 한국 영화의 흐름](https://blackskein.tistory.com/7)
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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 › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedy-drama films*
*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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