The Han sisters - the elder, married Ji-young; bookish middle sister Sun-young and the free-spirited Mi-young - find the placid surface of their lives upturned with the arrival of Soo-hyun, a suave sweet-talker who seems to be the perfect man. After Mi-young discovers him at a club and brings him home to meet the family, he turns out to be a catalyst that unleashes all the suppressed emotions that pervade the household.
A remake of Gerard Stembridge’s Irish feature About Adam (2000), Everybody Has Secrets is an attractive, slickly-packaged feature that highlights the development of Korea’s star system. Lee Byung-heon (JSA, A Bittersweet Life) is probably a consensus choice for the best-looking man in Korea, and this film is structured almost as an homage to his sex appeal. He plays Soo-hyun in such a way that his famous smile remains a mystery right up to the end of the film.
Meanwhile, although Kim Hyo-jin (Legend of the Evil Lake) gives a spirited turn as Mi-young, it is the elder sisters who steal the show. Choo Sang-mi (Turning Gate, A Smile) as the married Ji-young has long been known for the intelligence and sensuality she brings to her roles, while Choi Ji-woo - a huge star in neighboring Japan after the success of her TV drama Winter Sonata - puts her considerable talent on display in portraying a woman whose deeply-buried passions suddenly fight for expression.
Released in the peak summer season where it subsequently became overwhelmed by its competition, Everybody Has Secrets was arguably more successful in Japan, where it turned a modest-sized release into a more sustained box office performance. As such, it represents not only a showcase of the Korean star system, but also an example of how Korean films are coming to rely ever more on audiences in Japan.