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Kate Campbell
CINE 382
Topic 1
30 April 2014
The Nuclear Family in Crisis in Dark Water and A Tale of Two Sisters
According to film scholar K.K. Seet, a trend has emerged within modern Asian cinema
that emphasizes the intersection of horror and family melodrama into a new "domestic gothic"
hybrid genre. Many examples of these films, such as Hideo Nakata's 1988 production of Ringu,
focus on the nuclear family in a state of transformation. In Dark Water (2002), directed by Hideo
Nakata, and A Tale of Two Sisters (2003), directed by Kim Ji-Woon, the disintegration of the
nuclear family model provides the impetus for the psychological and supernatural terrors of both
films to manifest.
The nuclear family adheres to a patriarchal configuration, with the father fulfilling a
central role as breadwinner and head of household; the mother functions as homemaker and
caregiver. Such a model stresses active parenting as conducive to maintaining a successful
family dynamic. Through their literal and symbolic absence, the fathers of Dark Water and A
Tale of Two Sisters fail to satisfy their preordained position, thus destabilizing the nuclear model
and allowing the supernatural forces of each film to manifest. Dark Water centers on Yoshimi, a
single mother struggling to readjust her life and maintain custody of her daughter in the wake of
her recent divorce. Her ex-husband complicates her efforts by demanding to become Ikukos
legal guardian, going so far as to exaggerate Yoshimis past mental instability in order to revoke
her custody. Yoshimi relents, claiming that his lack of presence in his daughters life renders him
an unfit parentHes completely neglected her from the beginning, she claims, He forgets
her birthday every year.

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Nakata primarily highlights the pair's strained relationship in the beginning of the film by
portraying them through contrasts: the father wears a black suit, while Yoshimi wears a white
coat. The first time they are shown together, the pair situates themselves diagonally within the
frame, with Yoshimi in the foreground and the father across from and behind her. The bland, desaturated color scheme of the legal office as well as the lack of background music creates an
atmosphere of coldness and sterility that further underlines the distance between Yoshimi and
her ex-husband. Moreover, the two do not address each other face to face. First, the father
communicates his wishes through the divorce lawyers; next, Yoshimi speaks to him, but refuses
to address him head on. By depicting the warring parents in contrast, specifically by evoking
associations of dark/evil and light/good, Nakata emphasizes the disengaged father as a threat to
Yoshimi's attempts at maintaining a stable family. The absence of an active patriarchal figure is
reinforced throughout the film as several men with whom Yoshimi interacts appear dismissive or
otherwise incompetent: the buildings manager ignores her repeated requests to fix a growing
leak in her new apartment, while her potential employer forces her to wait hours for a job
interview, distracted by the activities of his office. By emphasizing an overt lack of any positive
or engaged male figures, Dark Water demonstrates the consequences of undermining the
patriarchal stability demanded by a nuclear family model as the spirit of the abandoned Mitsuko
increasingly invades Yoshimi and Itsukos lives.
In A Tale of Two Sisters, the father maintains a physical presence throughout the duration
of the film, but demonstrates an emotional distance that weakens his familial presence and
allows main character Su-Mis destructive psychosis to go unrestrained. While the nuclear
family demands an active father to delegate the family and provide household stability, Su-Mis
father instead adopts a role of passivity and a refusal to engage with his family. Su-Mis attempts

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to communicate with her father are unsuccessful: when he does interact with her, he speaks in
vague language, and their interactions center only on Su-Mis implied illness. Kim underscores
the fathers emotional detachment by predominantly showing him as isolated within shots, often
appearing pensive or distracted. When shown in the presence of others, the father demonstrates
visible discomfort. When the family eats together in their new home for the first time, his eyes
are downcast; in the second dinner scene with Su-Mis aunt and uncle, he gazes across the table
in silence. Kims use of color further underscores the fathers separation from his family. While
Su-Mi, Su-Yeon, and stepmother Eun-Ju all wear a variety of colors, the father only wears muted
grey, white, and brown. Throughout the film, the father maintains an understated presence that
facilitates the exacerbation of Su-Mis already frayed mental state.
Both films further destabilize the nuclear model by depicting mothers forced to forfeit
their roles as caregivers. The nuclear model idealizes the self-sacrificing, nurturing mother; in
both Dark Water and A Tale of Two Sisters, the mothers removal from this position allows the
respective horrors to manifest. Yoshimis need to earn money to support her fractured family
supersedes her ability to fulfill the role of caregiver to Ikuko; as a result, she effectively
abandons her daughter, leaving Ikuko alone at school for hours into the evening. Yoshimis
forced departure from the mother idealized by the nuclear family model has a profoundly
negative effect on her mental state, reflected through the mise-en-scene of her apartment
building. Unable to effectively fulfill the part of homemaker and nurturer demanded by the
nuclear model, Yoshimis home appears antiquated, and broken, emphasized through the use of
washed-out lighting and neutral coloring. Dark Water emphasizes the threat to a stable family
that results form the mothers inability to fully embody the caregiving role.

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Like Yoshimi, Su-Mi and Su-Yeons mother also forfeits her role of caregiver. Though
external forces such as the need for financial stability hinder Yoshimis ability to meet the
expectations of the nuclear models idealized mother, the mother of A Tale of Two Sisters cannot
cope with the emotional duress of her evolving family and ultimately commits suicide. Her
removal from this caregiving role has two implications: first, Kim suggests that the absence of
the idealized mother figure invariably leads to the collapse of the family unit, and second, that
this role cannot be filled by a substitute. Indeed, stepmother Eun-Ju maintains a menacing
presence throughout the film, one that posits her as directly responsible for the familys
disintegration. It is heavily implied that the mothers death resulted from the revelation of an
illicit relationship between her husband and his nurse (Eun-Ju), who subsequently becomes SuMi and Su-Yeons stepmother.
Kim demonstrates the destabilizing effects of the mothers failure to fulfill the caregiving
role quote prominently when Su-Mi looks through a collection of family photographs. He uses
color as a means of setting the scenes mood: hazy red and yellow hues overlay the beginning of
the sequence, evoking a sense of nostalgia. It is interesting to note the changing colors of the
photographs, as well; some are in sepia, depicting a smiling family of the past, while others are
in red. Obscured faces feature in the red photographs, foreshadowing the bloody end to the
familys happiness that occurs in the form of the mothers suicide. Soft piano music plays while
Su-Mi looks through the photographs of her old family, promoting an idealization of the past
specifically centered on her mother as a caregiving presence within her life. Once the stepmother
begins to appear in the photographs, however, the music abruptly grows darker and more
sinister. The photographs composition additionally reveals the upset family dynamic. In the first
photograph featuring Eu-Ju, Su-Mi/Su-Yeon and father/mother form pairs with linked hands, but

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Eun-Jus looking presence in the background and the unhappy faces of the family imply that the
mothers nurturing abilities have already begun to disintegrate, prompted by the invasive force of
the stepmother. At the end of the sequence, Su-Yeon (or rather, Su-Mis vision of Su-Yeon)
enters and takes objects belong to the mother from Su-Mi, suggesting that even memories of the
mothers presence are fading within the family. With a dead mother, distant father, and
seemingly malicious stepmother, Su-Mis family stability collapses and the horrific nature of her
mental illness manifests in increasingly destructive ways.
Most significantly, both films depict horror as connected to child figures, suggesting the
broken family most heavily impacts the children raised within it. In Dark Water, the spectral
figure of Mitsuko is born from an uninvolved mother who abandons her after school. Left
without a guardian, she falls into a water tank while trying to retrieve her school bag and dies,
with her spirit remaining in search of a new mother figure. A similar theme of abandonment
appears within Yoshimi and Ikukos relationship, as well. Nakata demonstrates the parallels
between Mitsuko, Yoshimi, and Ikuko through sequences of waiting. In one sequence, Ikuko
waits after school for Yoshimi, who is held up by a job interview and cannot reach Ikukos
teachers. Through the use of cross-cutting, Nakata juxtaposes shots of Ikuko with images of
another waiting girl; yellow lighting alerts viewers that these shots are from a flashback of
Yoshimis childhood, depicting her own experiences with abandonment.
Furthermore, Nakata utilizes editing to emphasize the similarities between Ikuko and
Mitsuko. When Ikuko stops waiting for her mother and leaves the kindergarten, a shot/reverse
shot reveals Mitsukos ghost standing across the street; later, Yoshimi finally arrives at the
closed kindergarten, and an arc shot moves from her to a poster of a missing child, later revealed
to be Itsuko. The obscured photograph on the poster, as well as the sinister music accompanying

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this sequence, causes the audience to fear that a similar fate has befallen Ikuko in the wake of her
mothers abandonment. As the film continues, Ikuko and Mitsuko become increasingly difficult
to distinguish, suggesting that if Yoshimis inability to embody her caregiving role continues,
Ikuko will die as well. Ultimately, the only way to save Ikuko is for Yoshimi to become the
idealized mother for Mitsuko. By depicting the films horror in the form of a child and drawing
parallels between the deceased Mitsuko and the living Ikuko, Nakata suggests that this idealized
form of motherhood is necessary in preserving the safety of the child.
For Su-Mi, the negative effects of a disrupted nuclear family manifest in the form of her
mental illnessfollowing the death of her mother and sister, Su-Mi develops multiple
personalities through which she acts out her aggression toward Eun-Ju and attempts to overcome
the guilt she feels toward her mother and Su-Yeon. Kim alludes to Su-Mis illness in the films
opening, depicting her in a mental hospital as a doctor questions her about herself and her family.
However, the full weight of Su-Mis damaged psyche remains hidden until much later.
In the films climactic scene, Su-Mis father prepares pills for what appears to be Eun-Ju,
but a ringing doorbell in the distance and the repetitive usage of ominous music suggest that this
sequence is not what it appears on the surface. Kim enhances this suspense through his use of
camera movement: first, the camera focuses on a figure in a suit, moving upward toward the
figures face and eventually revealing Eun-Ju. Next, the camera revolves around the Eun-Ju on
the couch and the Eun-Ju in the doorway, zooming in on each ones face as the background
music intensifies before finally showing that it is in fact Su-Mi sitting on the couch. In a series of
flashbacks, Kim replays key moments from throughout the film with Su-Mi completing her
stepmothers acts and verifying that Su-Mi has been along in the house with her father
throughout the entire film. In the present, the camera circles around Su-Mi once again, utilizing

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an extreme close-up of her face to demonstrate the uncomfortable process of questioning herself
and her identity that the real Eun-Jus appearance has caused. Most significantly, the final
flashback depicts Su-Mi arriving at the house for the first timethis time stepping out of the car
without Su-Yeon. Melancholic piano music accompanies this shot, reflecting the full weight of
the mental scarring Su-Mi has endured. Suddenly the doctors focus on a family photograph in
the opening scene makes sense: the loss of a stable family is ultimately what exacerbates SuMis psychosis.
Both Dark Water and A Tale of Two Sisters display the nuclear family model in a state of
decay: the combination of absent or passive fathers and mothers displaced from their roles as
nurturers causes the stable family to collapse, ultimately having negative implications for the
child. Each film represents this collapse in the form of a supernatural or psychological horror that
invades the family through the childs damaged psyche. One must wonder the significance of
these depictions of the fractured family as a harbinger of destructionif it is possible to interpret
Nakata and Kims work as containing an element of social commentary, perhaps Dark Water and
A Tale of Two Sisters seek to reflect cultural anxieties concerning changes to the traditional
family in modern Asia.