Sympathy For Lady Vengeance - Plot

Plot

A Christian musical procession waits outside a prison for Lee Geum-ja (Lee Young Ae), a recently-reformed female prisoner, who had been convicted of murdering a young schoolboy, Won-mo. The case, a national sensation because of her young age at the time of the murder and innocent appearance, earns her a lengthy prison sentence, reduced because of her apparent spiritual transformation in prison and her good conduct toward other inmates, results in the nickname of the "Kind-Hearted Geum-Ja". As Lee Geum-ja emerges from prison, she immediately sidesteps the procession, intent on revenge.

Lee Geum-ja is innocent of the murder, confessing to the false crime by order of Mr. Baek (Choi Min-sik), the real killer who kidnapped and threatened to murder her newborn daughter if she refused. Inside prison, Geum-ja makes a number of friends with her angelic, maternal demeanour, donating a kidney to one inmate, tenderly caring for others and poisoning the prison bully. Once paroled, Geum-Ja immediately visits the other paroled inmates, calling in favours that include food, shelter and weapons. She also begins work at a local pastry shop, under the tutelage of a chef who previously volunteered at the prison. Further distancing herself from her kindhearted reputation, she wears red eyeshadow, provocative high-heel pumps and chronically dreams about murdering Mr. Baek.

Geum-ja researches her daughter and discovers that she was adopted by Australian parents. Jenny, now a teenager, does not speak Korean and does not initially embrace her mother. After persuading her family to allow her to return to Seoul from Sydney, Jenny follows Geum-ja around the city as she plans to kidnap Mr. Baek with help of his wife, another ex-convict. During this Mr. Baek, now a children's teacher at a local preschool, discovers that Geum-ja is released and aware of her plans, attacks his wife and hires thugs to ambush Geum-ja and Jenny. In the ensuing battle, Geum-ja kills both thugs, while Mr. Baek falls unconscious due to the drugs slipped into his food by his wife.

Geum-ja, eager yet hesitant to kill the unconscious Mr. Baek, discovers several children's trinkets decorating his cell phone. Remembering that his modus operandi involved stealing an orange marble from Won-Mo following his murder, Geum-ja realises that they are souvenirs from victims and deduces that Mr. Baek murdered other children as well. She imprisons him and contacts the detective from the Won-Mo case, and they infiltrate Mr. Baek's apartment together and discover snuff tapes of the other children that Mr. Baek murdered.

Geum-ja and the detective contact and transport the parents or surviving relatives of the missing children to an abandoned school on the outskirts of Seoul. After showing them the tapes, the group deliberates on Mr. Baek's fate, ultimately deciding to murder him collectively, with the audio of their discussion amplified for Baek to hear. Wearing raincoats and wielding a variety of weapons, they approach Mr. Baek individually and torture him while the last person, an emotionless grandmother, kills Baek with the scissors of her murdered grand daughter. They take a group photo, ensuring that none of them can turn in the others without implicating themselves, and then bury the corpse outside.

Geum-ja, the investigator, and the parents all converge on Geum-ja's bakery, where they eat a cake and sing a collective birthday song for their deceased children. Geum-ja approaches her apartment with a cake box when she notices Jenny. They embrace before Geum-ja opens the box to reveal a white cake resembling a block of tofu. She instructs her daughter to "live white", as pure as tofu. Jenny tastes the cake and says Geum-ja should live even more purely. As they stare up into the snowy sky, Geum-ja weeps and sobs uncontrollably, burying her face in the cake, while Jenny moves to hug her.