Le Parisien, a leading French daily alongside the respected Le Monde, has introduced two South Korean movies, "A Good Lawyer's Wife" directed by Lim Sang-soo and "Woman Is the Future of Man" directed by Hong Sang-soo, as North Korean films. This misrepresentation has caused shock waves in the South Korean movie industry.
The film section of the Apr. 6 internet edition of Le Parisien incorrectly identified the country of origin of "A Good Lawyer's Wife (French title: Une Femme Coreenne)" as "Coree du Nord" (North Korea).
Le Parisien correctly introduced the movie's English title and its lead actors and actresses, namely Moon So-ri, Hwang Jeong-min, Yoon Yeo-jeong, and Kim In-moon. But the movie's country of origin should have read "Coree du Sud" (South Korea). The movie was released in French movie theaters on Apr. 6.
Le Parisien made a similar mistake by introducing another South Korean film released in France last year entitled "Woman Is the Future of Man (French title: La Femme Est l'Avenir de l'Homme)" as a North Korean film.
It is unclear whether Le Parisien, a leading conservative French daily with a circulation of 400,000 copies nationwide, made the mistakes due to typographical errors or received incorrect information when the films were imported into France. Some readers have suggested that the newspaper may have a malfunctioning database.
In addition, the errors' impact is magnified because they come at a time when the French people are showing a keen interest in South Korean films. This year, the Centre Culturel Francais de Seoul (French Cultural Center in Seoul) and the Cinemateque Francaise are planning to jointly hold a retrospective showing of South Korean movies, and the Vesoul International Festival of Asian Films in France is holding a retrospective showing of South Korean director Lee Du-yong's films.
At the Deauville International Festival of Asian Films held recently in France, "This Charming Girl" directed by Lee Yoon-ki was correctly introduced as a movie produced in South Korea.
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