Hong is a 27-year old university student who is assigned to a high school for practice teaching. Her supervisor is the slightly younger teacher Yu-rim, a charming but sleazy sweet-talker who takes an immediate interest in her. At first she passively ignores his leering, suggestive attempts to get her into bed, but as he becomes more insistent, she starts to adopt a more aggressive attitude herself. It’s obvious what Yu-rim wants, but what the world-weary Hong is thinking remains unclear.
Most films that take on issues like sexual harassment or date rape make an effort to send unambiguous moral signals about right and wrong. Rules of Dating heads off in exactly the opposite direction. With conflicting emotions at every turn, the film almost resembles a holographic image. Look at it this way, and it seems to be a progressive, almost feminist take on abuse of power. Look at it the other way, and it appears as duplicitous and immoral.
The male-female directing/screenwriting team of Han Jae-rim and Goh Yoon-hee get convincingly into the heads of both sexes, helped along by two absolutely brilliant performances by Gang Hye-jung (Oldboy) and Park Hae-il (Memories of Murder). Their efforts make the film convincing, shocking, and hard to forget. In Korea, the film touched off angry debates on its way to box office success. The film raises many questions, but answers few of them.
What is clear is that Rules of Dating is one of the major discoveries of Korean cinema in 2005. Despite this, international film festivals have been reluctant to embrace it. Wickedly funny, revolting, mesmerizing, and gutsy, this is a film to enjoy on the screen and to discuss at length afterwards with friends.