If
we could stop press on the Kamasutra's publication, then we
could add the many positions assumed in erotic lovemaking
within Herapurple: Devil Goddess,
a Korean film directed by Chung Gil-Chae. The film operates
at two levels. The first level involves Haerim (played by
Chung Kim), a middle-aged woman who feels so much mental turmoil
that she is consulting her psychiatrist (Lee Ho-Sung). Baffled
about her case, the psychiatrist hypnotizes her, and he then
hears a mind-boggling tale about sex and murder. Since the
murders do actually take place, the second level is the pursuit
of the murderer by police detectives under the command of
Special Agent Lee (played by Lee Se-Chang). In due course
we learn that Haerim was raped as a teenager, so she is engaging
in revenge killings through her dreams while under hypnosis,
but the number of teenage rapists seems less than the number
killed in reality, so she is a serial killer out of control.
Preferring to have sex with muscular men in their twenties
or thirties, she often changes her appearance to be younger
and thus more seductive. When she reaches climax during intense
lovemaking, she overpowers her partners, kills them, and removes
their penises. If she fails to reach climax, as when we has
sex with a gay man who decides to experiment with heterosexuality,
her partner does not die. Baffled because of a lack of clues
about the identity of the serial killer, the police one day
receive a tip from a Harvard student, who speculates that
she is the embodiment of the Greek Goddess Hera, who came
back from the dead to kill her rapists. The police finally
catch up with her, though two cops have sex with her and live.
Although Korean authorities insisted on cuts in the film because
of the graphic sexuality, Herapurple: Devil Goddess
is a less extreme Korean sex film than Gojitmal
(1999), which involves heterosexual sadomasochism. However,
both films stress the same theme: the arrogance and chauvinism
of Korean men toward women. If we cannot stop press on the
Kamasutra, at least we can be sure that the shape of the erratum
slip forwarded by Herapurple will
be long and narrow, coming to a point. MH
I
want to comment on this film
