The Netflix drama miniseries The Trunk, primarily based on a novel by Kim Ryeo-ryeong, begins with an outlandish premise. Han Jeong-won, performed by Gong Yoo, is ready up in a type of check by his ex-wife Search engine optimisation-yeon (Jung Youn-ha). Search engine optimisation-yeon guarantees she’s going to return to him if he can endure one yr in a contract marriage she arranges with Noh In-ji (Search engine optimisation Hyun-jin), knowledgeable spouse with a wedding service firm known as NM. Contract marriage has been a standard trope of dramas, normally highlighting how real love overcomes extra cynical motivations for marriage.
The Trunk doesn’t fully keep away from this trope, as the connection between Jeong-won and In-ji strikes from purely transactional to 1 with real chemistry and care. For a lot of its runtime, nevertheless, the drama is usually fascinated by exploring unresolved trauma and the way it manifests in self-destructive coping mechanisms, detachment from relationships, or energy video games and manipulation.
The sequence initially begins with pretty unlikable characters in poisonous relationships. Jeong-won is an insomniac music producer who steadily takes medicine to sleep or escape visions of his abusive childhood. In the beginning, he’s uncontrolled, giving Search engine optimisation-yeon a pair of earrings (although she too has just lately remarried) and smashing in her automotive window in rage when he sees its field within the again seat.
The present shortly establishes Search engine optimisation-yeon, nevertheless, as an individual who relishes consideration, energy, and management. With each her husbands, she gives or withholds affection relying on what fits her wants. She additionally seeks to punish Jeong-won for previous wrongs and manipulate him into submission — in a single second, she provides him a vinyl document containing two objects: a picture regarding somebody the couple has misplaced, and three blue drugs. She primarily tortures him with trauma from the previous and allows his dependancy, securing her function because the villain of the story even when it’s revealed how she has suffered as properly.
Sluggish and deliberate in its filmmaking, The Trunk takes its time to depict the psychological state of its leads by means of visible storytelling. Specifically, the set design typically displays Jeong-won’s mind-set. His chilly, sparsely furnished up to date fashion mansion, the identical dwelling the place he witnessed the abuse of his mom, displays his inside demons. Particulars like wavy wood slats within the bed room evoke instability. Essentially the most distinguished set piece is the glass chandelier, the place his father planted surveillance cameras to spy on his mom, and which Search engine optimisation-yeon replaces together with her personal imposing, nefarious device for management. In his drug-addled states, Jeong-won envisions the chandelier shifting. The present’s music and sound design additional add to the psychological storytelling, matching the temper and emphasizing particulars just like the clinking glass of the chandelier.
In-ji can also be typically seen returning to a selected area, the house belonging to her former fiance Do-ha. Following a scandal through which a intercourse tape with a male lover is uncovered, Do-ha leaves. In-ji works for NM first out of revenge, then as a technique to detach from the vulnerability that true emotional connection would deliver. In her spare time, she maintains Do-ha’s house like a museum, feeding his fish.
Gong Yoo and Search engine optimisation Hyun-jin’s performing finally elevates the drama — all of the twisty plots and atmospheric filmmaking wouldn’t work and not using a plausible human core. Gong brings nuance to his character, and one can see the unhappiness in his eyes even earlier than we find out about his darkish previous. Search engine optimisation successfully faces the problem of enjoying an aloof character who represses her emotions in an effort to act as a “excellent spouse.” Moments of heat nonetheless come by means of In-ji’s facade, and Search engine optimisation and Gong’s scenes collectively are gratifying and convincing of their banter and slow-building relationship. With their connection in place, viewers can imagine that Seong-won and In-ji would begin to really feel extra hopeful and make extra helpful selections for themselves.
The present comprises a number of subplots, with the foremost one surrounding Um Tae-seong (Kim Dong-won), who was detained for stalking In-ji, however prematurely launched from a psychological establishment. The actor makes Tae-seong menacing, and his character brings some hazard and suspense to the present, although the principle intrigue stays amongst In-ji, Seong-won, and Search engine optimisation-yeon. In the end, Tae-seong’s subplot serves as yet another barrier In-ji has to emotional intimacy, but it additionally reveals the depth of In-ji and Seong-won’s emotions for one another, with each characters making self-sacrificing selections to guard the opposite.
The thriller story is probably the least satisfying ingredient, no less than in a standard sense. The titular trunk seems within the opening scene, foreshadowing {that a} homicide has taken place. The present intercuts scenes of the police investigation into the principle plot, finally uncovering the sufferer midway by means of the present, and eventually the perpetrator. Viewers study concerning the contents of the trunk as properly, and the reveal could seem anticlimactic. The trunk, nevertheless, features extra like an object onto which characters challenge each fears and aspirations. Um Tae-seong believes the trunk comprises paperwork that may expose NM‘s secret marriages to the general public. For different characters, it represents psychological baggage they would like to cover away.
In some ways, The Trunk is an apt title for the miniseries: for each the characters and viewers, the article doesn’t fulfill expectations. Likewise, as viewers, we don’t essentially get the thriller thriller the opening scene guarantees, nor the standard romantic ending widespread to contract marriage tales. The drama’s energy will not be its pretty fragmented and convoluted plot, however quite its convincing presentation of individuals with lingering trauma who regularly discover therapeutic and closure.
(YouTube. Pictures through Netflix).
