‘The Bequeathed’ star Kim Hyun-joo says playing her role was liberating
For actor Kim Hyun-joo, working on Netflix’s new series, “The Bequeathed,” was an interesting, refreshing experience.
The thriller series, which hit the platform on Jan. 19, revolves around Yoon Seo-ha (Kim), a part-time lecturer who inherits a burial ground after the death of an unknown uncle. Soon, however, she finds herself caught in a series of misfortunes that lead her to unveil dark secrets.
“This was the first character that I played who emotionally exploded, which was exciting,” Kim said during an interview with The Korea Times at a cafe in Jongno District, Seoul. “Until now, I’ve assumed a lot of (roles) that required me to suppress emotions. But this time, I wanted to act out as it was. I had a lot of fun filming this series and felt like I let out everything that I’d been holding back. It was liberating.”
Kim added that she was drawn to the suspense mystery woven into the plot.
“It was interesting to try inferring the mysteries as I read the script,” she said. “I liked how curiosity intensified further into the story and how Yoon’s emotions layer up and end up reaching the point to explode later on, falling into uncontrollable desire.”
Yoon goes through complicated emotions, suffering an unfortunate childhood and a tough reality with a cheating husband and workplace politics over a permanent teaching position. She hits bigger turbulence when her half-brother, Kim YoungHo (Ryu Kyung-soo), appears in her life, claiming his rights to the gravesite.
The series is led by Min Hongnam, who is making his directorial debut, and is co-written by Min and filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho, known for the 2021 Netflix apocalyptic series, “Hellbound.”
Kim shared that she used profanity to portray the rawness of her character’s low-self esteem.
“I wanted the character to appear more realistic. There was one line with profanity in the script, which gave me the idea that ‘Oh, this person swears.’ So, I added more profanity in other scenes as an improvisation as well. A lot of them were cut out, but cursing was Yoon’s way of expressing her emotions. People who struggle with expressing themselves often tend to do it with a single profanity rather than putting it together in a few words. So I interpreted Yoon in that sense,” she said.
“Yoon blames her father and mother for her unhappy life, but has been suppressing herself to live an ordinary and well-adjusted life. She probably wanted to get married, not because of love but because she wanted a family like everyone else. And those emotions she had been holding back burst out in a single moment.”
The series has a rather anticlimactic ending, considering its effort to build suspense with an occult setting from the first episode. Kim said the series is a story about families, throwing viewers questions on the definition of a family.
“I think (the director) wanted to talk about a family; a story of a family. It seems the director’s intention was to ask the viewers questions like: ‘Do you accept this as a family?’ and ‘To what extent do you consider a family?’” she said.
“Is it considered a family just because people are physically together? There are different forms of families. And I believe family, despite loving each other, can sometimes suffocate each other too. And Yoon’s was that kind of family. And within that, she also had a sense of guilt.”