Hui-Mei's parents allow the prostitute Jeong-Hwa to receive clients in their home, which fills Hui-Mei with hostility towards her. However, when she follows Jeong-Hwa and witnesses a sexual encounter on a lighthouse by the sea, the poetic scene leads her to a new understanding of Jeong-Hwa’s situation. In the pristine snow, she enters Jeong-Hwa's room and takes her place in completing a transaction...
Director Kim Ki-duk is known for his films about sadomasochistic or unconventional love. In another of his films, *The Bad Guy*, a man who secretly loves a woman turns the college student who despises him into a promiscuous prostitute. The male protagonist, always hidden but controlling the fate of the characters, has been interpreted as a symbol of male chauvinism, conveying a disdainful message that women are inherently prostitutes. This film, however, tells the story of a virtuous young lady voluntarily becoming a prostitute. At first glance, it seems like a typical reflection of male dominance. Yet, the scenes of the prostitute receiving clients are depicted so beautifully, and in the end, when the two girls meet in the mirror and smile at each other, it suggests that she who chose the life of a prostitute might also take pride in her profession.