Happy End (1999)

If a man cannot be important in his work life, he is in danger of being impotent in his home life. Such is the plight of underemployed husband and oversexed wife in Happy End (1999). A soulful Korean exploration of longing and regret, the ironically named film reveals the mixed motives that lead to unadulterated negative results when a young mother with a career returns to the embrace of a demanding and destructive former lover. Perhaps the only soul she dooms would be her own, except that laid-off Mr. Mom has been spending his unstructured time in collecting evidence of her infidelity. The three main characters in this triangle of lost love are all presented as complex, multi-faceted human beings--strengths, weaknesses, and foibles intact--which makes them all seem as familiar as a bout of introspection.