The Price of Confession Jeon Do Yeon: It's unfortunate female-centric stories are considered special

Jeon Do Yeon on her Netflix original series The Price of Confession. 

Transforming into Ahn Yoon Soo, a woman who is falsely accused of murder and imprisoned, who then accepts a dangerous deal to reclaim her life, the actress delivers everything from the layers of female solidarity to twists that no one saw coming. 

The Price of Confession is a mystery thriller that follows Yoon Soo (Jeon Do Yeon), a woman accused of murdering her husband, and Mo Eun (Kim Go Eun), a mysterious woman called a witch, as they make a dangerous deal. 

Since its release on December 5, it has recorded 2.2 million views and risen to No. 2 in the Global Top 10 Shows (non-English) category. It also entered the Top 10 list in nine countries, including South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand.

Sharing her thoughts about participating in a female-centric story, she said, "The fact that people describe it as a story about two women, in a way, might be because for so long there have only been male-centered stories, and that has created a kind of bias." "These female-centered narratives and stories aren't actually anything particularly special but are regarded as special, and I think that's a bit unfortunate."

"The fact that two women appear as the main characters has become considered a special story because, for such a long time, male-centered stories were dominant. I think viewers have grown tired of these male-centered stories and feel that many of them are predictable, and maybe that’s why such stories are now being turned in a different direction and brought out as female-centered works."

Here is the excerpt of the Q&A with the actress:

How do you feel now that the series has been released?
I work hard on all my projects. But hearing that the responses are positive and that it’s doing well on Netflix makes it feel worthwhile.

How did you want to portray Yoon Soo?
I thought of Yoon Soo as a mysterious character. She has a family, she's a mother, and she has a husband — she seems like someone whose life is clearly laid out, but the more I looked at her, the more mysterious she felt. Yoon Soo grew up as an orphan, and because of the resulting [emotional] deprivation, I sensed an even deeper layer of mystery in her.

How did you bring together the visuals?
The flashy outfits were already written in the script. Something like, 'Her husband just died, so how could she show up wearing clothes like those?' So I thought we needed to add color. Yoon Soo herself isn't that kind of person, but she needed to look like a free spirit, so we went for a hippie vibe.

What emotions do you think Yoon Soo was experiencing?
I think Yoon Soo was in a state where she couldn't fully grasp that reality. As time passed, the reality of her husband's death and the responsibility of caring for her child must have slowly come upon her.

Yoon Soo seems like a challenging role.
Rather than being challenging or difficult, she's a woman trapped by the prejudices of many. The difficulty was that, instead of focusing on what is seen, I tried to concentrate more on her sense of lack. She seems like a woman who is free from others' gaze and judgment, but she has a void when it comes to family. She has a desire for a proper, respectable family, yet that desire isn't seen [outwardly].

What did you like about this script?
I don't choose projects based on genre, but what I liked here was that it was a thriller. And the fact that it’s a story about two women — two characters — was intriguing me.

How did you perceive the character of Yoon Soo?
I felt sorry for her, but also, there's a scene where she cooks ramen for her child, and she doesn't even know where the ramen is kept. She's a woman who, within the confines set by her husband, was shouting, "I'm a free woman." So I wondered, "How is this woman going to handle responsibility?"

Your screen time was overwhelming, and it must have been physically demanding as well.
We started filming during the hottest time of the year and finished during the coldest. And my clothes were thin. But I didn't expect it to be this hard. Since we didn't receive the entire script in advance, I didn't know Yoon Soo would have to pay such a brutal price.

Some say that this is why [the story] feels to lack plausibility.
I saw a lot of those comments, like, "Did she really have to suffer that much?" (laughs) This story is about two women who are wounded because of society's prejudices. Keeping aside the incident, the starting point of that story is judgments like, 'Teachers should be like this,' 'Mothers should be like that.' It all begins with these expectations people impose. I think that's something that can't be helped.

You looked too pure and ethereal in the prison scene.
When I saw that scene, I was really surprised because only in that scene I look soft and glowing (laughs). I even had blood on me, but the director said he wanted my face to look clear and bright. I asked, 'Will that be okay?' But the director said he actually wanted that look to give off an even more mysterious feeling. I was surprised myself when I saw it.

What will The Price of Confession mean to you personally?
The Price of Confession was an appealing project, but I also loved working with Kim Go Eun again after ten years, and reuniting with director Lee Jeong Hyo was wonderful as well. I think it was a meaningful project with people I care about.

The Price of Confession is streaming on Netflix. 

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