FILM · 2019 · SOUTH KOREA
Gisaengchung
129 archived facts 8 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
129 Interesting Facts About Gisaengchung
Interesting Facts (44)
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Tony Rayns points out how Bong Joon-ho films, Parasite in particular, never stops to deliver exposition and instead builds its story on the move. "I was very inspired by George Miller's Mad Max Fury Road. That movie never stops, all physical action and movement, it just keeps going going going, but all the background information and story occurs quite naturally."
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The film has 6.8 million viewer logs on Letterboxd as of April 2026, the third-most of any film, after Interstellar (2014) (7.2 million) and Fight Club (1999) and Barbie (2023) (7.1 million each).
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In nearly all of his films, Bong Joon Ho has worked closely with American translator Darcy Paquet, a Korea-based blogger on Korean cinema and a "cinephile," and gives him great credit for their collaborations, especially his clever method of improving the American English quality of the scripts and subtitles.
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Tony Rayns notes that Bong Joon-ho's films, especially Parasite, never give up on presenting narrative and instead build their story on the move. "I was very inspired by George Miller's Mad Max Fury Road. That film never stops, it's all physical action and movement, it just keeps going, yet all the background information and the story form quite naturally."
- #022
In the film Nathan appears in, he tells Bong Joon-ho that some of his Korean friends and Mr. Park were never given Americanized names, but that Bong learned his surname has a meaning in the US. His first US distributor actually sat him down and "and they actually gave me a real bong as a gift after the promotion of The Host," explaining what a bong is. He adds that this caused him some trouble at the airport.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
While the Park couple are on the couch, they engage in heavy making out and fully clothed hand jobs, and Tony Rayns notes that this is the most explicit sex scene Bong Joon-ho has ever shot. "I'm not that perverted guy," Bong says. "I'm a very light and pleasant man."
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Bong Joon-ho screened black-and-white versions of Parasite and Mother (2009), and Tony Rayns asked him why. "I can not suppress my desire to have my own black & white movie." Bong turned out. Criterion's new Blu-ray release of Parasite offers the black-and-white version as an extra feature.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
Da-song's birthday party at the end was supposed to be "Native American themed," with the masked Dong-ik and Ki-taek pretending to attack "Jessica" (Ki-jeong) as "evil Indians." But in a tragic example of dark irony, Ki-jeong is fatally wounded by the crazed Geun-se, whose face is smeared with food and blood in a way that resembles Native American war paint.
- #039
When the Parks go on vacation and the Kims take over the house, the poor family celebrates with food and drink. But the alcohol opens the door to some ambiguity about the Kim family's tight relationship as friction grows between them. "Ambiguity makes audiences very nervous, and there is some tension," says Bong Joon-ho.
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Tony Rayns asks about the arrow that comes out of the little boy's back, and Bong Joon-ho laughs. "Please don't misunderstand, not every Korean nine-year-old boy has something on the butt." It was a detail he newly added to the scene's storyboard, even though it was not in the screenplay.
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Film critic and commentator Tony Rayns points out certain similarities between this film and Bong Joon-ho's earlier fumigation work in Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000) and the scenes among the trembling pizza boxes in Tokyo! (2008), and Bong replies, "Tony, you are the man who knew too much. I am very uncomfortable with it."
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The rich woman hesitates while shaking hands with the driver. When the driver himself shakes her hand, she asks him whether he washed his hands. Although there is some inequality, it is important to note that the driver had just touched a tissue that looked like a bloody tissue taken from someone with tuberculosis.
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Production Story (30)
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On almost all of his films, Bong Joon Ho has worked closely with American translator Darcy Paquet, a Korean resident and "cinephile" blogger of Korean movies, and gives him tremendous credit for their collaboration, especially for the astute way he enhances the American English quality of script and subtitles.
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Director Bong Joon Ho chose his long-time collaborator Song Kang-ho and Choi Woo-sik, who was in Bong's last film Okja (2017), before picking any other actors of the movie while writing the script. Bong also said that if Song had declined, he wouldn't have made the movie, as he couldn't think of another actor playing the part.
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In a 2019 interview with Vulture, filmmaker Bong Joon Ho explained the film's ending and refuted the idea that Ki-woo could ever become rich enough to buy the house and let his father out of the underground bunker: "Maybe if the film ended where they hug and fade away, the audience could imagine 'Oh, [it's possible] to buy that house,' but the camera goes down into that semi-basement. It's quite cruel and sad, but I thought that was being real and honest to the audience. You know, we all know that this kid is not going to be able to buy that house. Even though it's sad, I felt that the frankness was right for the film."
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Bong Joon Ho's statement about the film: "It's not easy for people in different circumstances to coexist in the same space. In this sad world, it is becoming increasingly common for human relationships based on coexistence or symbiosis to be unsustainable, and for one group to be pushed into a parasitic relationship with another. In the middle of such a world, who can reach out a hand to a family struggling and fighting to survive and call them parasites? They cannot be said to have been parasites from the start. They are simply our neighbors, friends and colleagues who have been pushed to the edge of a cliff. This film, a depiction of ordinary people falling into an inevitable turmoil, is a comedy without clowns, a tragedy without villains, all of it leading to a violent commotion and a fall down the stairs.
- #061
(Around the 2-hour mark) Kim Ki-taek is explaining how the house was sold to foreigners. There are visual references to Switzerland, but in the American subtitles he thinks they are German: "It turns out Germans eat more than just sausage and beer". In the German dub he says they are American: "don't have just burgers and Coke in the fridge".
- #062
In an interview with the Korean magazine Cine21, director Bong Joon Ho spoke about the experience of shooting in an extremely wealthy Korean home. He said his hand literally trembled with worry as he returned a trash can used as a prop: the trash can was high-tech, remaining silent even when its lid was closed, and cost around 2,500 US dollars.
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The film references Alfred Hitchcock many times throughout. Stairs are used as a motif, voyeurism is used in the characters watching scenes through windows 14 times, and (most explicitly) there is a brief glimpse of an out-of-place Alfred Hitchcock collection in the Parks' house.
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A line thrown in at the beginning of the film about the housekeeper eating so much food that she seems to be eating for two is one of many sly nods toward the narrative surprise involving the man in the basement in the second half. Bong Joon-ho thanked Tony Rayns for being the first person to mention this to him throughout the entire press tour, "from Cannes to Oscar."
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(At about 1 hour 14 minutes) When the Kims take over the Parks' house, the song playing in the background is Gianni Morandi's "In ginocchio da te." In the 1960s, Morandi was a star of Italian "musicarello" films: a comedy genre that, just like Parasite, often focused on the differences between the poor and rich classes.
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(About 19 minutes in) The strange self-portrait made by her small son, which Mrs. Park (Cho Yeo-jeong) proudly shows to Ki-Woo (Choi Woo-sik) on his first visit to the Parks, resembles Francis, the mad son Bruno (Robert Walker) finds amusing in Alfred Hitchcock's classic film Strangers on a Train (1951). (A clip from the Hitchcock scene can be watched on YouTube.) That this resemblance is probably not coincidental is evidenced by the numerous Hitchcockian themes and tropes scattered throughout the film, as well as by a Hitchcock video placed very prominently in a single shot.
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After the film received an eight-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival, Bong Joon Ho took the microphone and said: "Thank you. Let's all go home." He later explained that the screening ended near midnight and that he and the cast were so hungry that they whispered to each other about eating something during the applause.
Behind the Scenes (13)
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In an interview with Korean magazine Cine21, Director Bong Joon Ho spoke of his experience in filming in a hyper-rich Korean home. He said his hand literally shook from anxiety when he was returning a trash can that was used as a prop: the trash can was of high-tech variety that stayed silent even when the lid was being closed and cost as much as US $2,500.
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Characters & Cast (3)
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While writing the screenplay, director Bong Joon Ho cast Song Kang-ho, with whom he had long collaborated, and Choi Woo-sik, who appeared in Bong's previous film Okja (2017), before casting the film's other actors. Bong also said he would not have made the film if Song had turned it down, because he could not imagine another actor playing the role.
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Easter Eggs & References (13)
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Film critic and commentator Tony Rayns points out some similarities in scenes between this film and Bong Joon-ho's earlier work: the fumigation in Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000), the shaking pizza boxes in Tokyo! (2008). Bong replies, "Tony, you are the man who knew too much. I am very uncomfortable with it."
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Contains a major spoiler — show
(at around 53 minutes) At around 53 minutes, the Kim mother, Chun-sook (Jang Hye-jin), is seen throwing a hammer on the lawn of the Park house. She had won a medal in this athletic event. This medal can be seen at the beginning of the movie in her house and is collected by Mr. Kim during the flood.
- #095
Contains a major spoiler — show
A throwaway line early in the film about how the housekeeper eats so much, almost as if she's eating for two, is one of many sly nods to the narrative surprise in the film's second half with the man in the basement. Bong Joon-ho thanked Tony Rayns for being the first person to mention that to him over the entire press tour "from Cannes to Oscar."
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Contains a major spoiler — show
There are a couple of scenes where there are 10 chairs at the dinner table. Not only does it make a statement about the rich having more than plenty to go around, but it also foreshadows that the Parks had enough to share between themselves, the Kim family, and the maid and her husband.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
(at around 2h) At around 2h, Kim Ki-taek talks about how the house was sold to foreigners. There are visual references to Switzerland, but in the American subtitles, he thinks they're German: "It turns out Germans eat more than just sausage and beer". In the German dubbing, he says they're Americans: they "don't have just burgers and Coke in the fridge".
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Contains a major spoiler — show
(at around 1h 14 mins) The song playing in the background when the Kims get possession of the Parks' house is "In ginocchio da te" by Gianni Morandi. In the 1960s, Morandi was a star in Italian "musicarello" movies: it was usually a comedy genre, focused on the differences between poor and rich classes, just like Parasite is.
Deeper Meaning (18)
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When the Parks leave on vacation and the Kims take over the house, the poorer family celebrates with food and drink. The alcohol opens the door to some ambiguity, though, regarding the Kim family's tight relationship as friction grows between them. "Ambiguity makes audiences very nervous, and there is some tension," says Bong Joon-ho.
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Scholar's stones or landscape rocks are known as "suseok" in Korean, have a deep history in East Asia. The director's father collected them when he was younger. The practice of collecting these attractively shaped stones dates back thousands of years, but they became a fixture of Korean society during the Joseun dynasty (1392-1897), when they were commonly displayed on the writing tables of Confucian scholars -- hence their English name: "scholars rocks."
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The rich lady hesitates when shaking hands with the driver. When the driver shakes her hand himself, she asks him if he has washed his hands. While there may have been some tone of disparity, it is important to note that the driver had just handled what appeared to be a bloody tissue from someone with TB.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
In a 2019 interview with Vulture, filmmaker Bong Joon Ho explained the very ending of the movie and debunked the notion that Ki-woo might ever be able to become rich enough to buy the house and allow his father to emerge from its underground bunker: "Maybe if the movie ended where they hug and fades out, the audience can imagine, 'Oh, it's [possible] to buy that house,' but the camera goes down to that half-basement. It's quite cruel and sad, but I thought it was being real and honest with the audience. You know and I know - we all know that this kid isn't going to be able to buy that house. I just felt that frankness was right for the film, even though it's sad."
- #113
Contains a major spoiler — show
Da-song's birthday party at the end was supposed to be "Native American themed", with the masked Dong-ik and Ki-taek as the "evil Indians" pretending to attack "Jessica" (Ki-jeong). In a tragic example of dark irony, however, Ki-jeong is lethally wounded by the crazed Geun-se, whose face is smeared with food and blood in a way that resembles Native American war paint.
- #114
Contains a major spoiler — show
Bong Joon Ho's statement for the film: "For people of different circumstances to live together in the same space is not easy. It is increasingly the case in this sad world that humane relationships based on co-existence or symbiosis cannot hold, and one group is pushed into a parasitic relationship with another. In the midst of such a world, who can point their finger at a struggling family, locked in a fight for survival, and call them parasites? It's not that they were parasites from the start. They are our neighbors, friends and colleagues, who have merely been pushed to the edge of a precipice. As a depiction of ordinary people who fall into an unavoidable commotion, this film is: a comedy without clowns, a tragedy without villains, all leading to a violent tangle and a headlong plunge down the stairs. You are all invited to this unstoppably fierce tragicomedy."
- #115
Contains a major spoiler — show
The scholar stone is meant to represent both the hope for upward social mobility, in a vein similar to the American Dream, and the burden of carrying such hopes, to the point that it literally bashes in Ki-woo's skull after it gives away his location, allowing the housekeeper's husband to attack him. Before the sequence at the party, the stone also floats while in the sewage water for Ki-woo to find, suggesting for that scene that it's fake and hollow and cannot be used to dream of a better life, foreshadowing that it will be Ki-woo's, and the family's, downfall.
- #116
Contains a major spoiler — show
(at around 7 mins) When the suseok rock that is gifted to the Kims as a charm for wealth and good fortune, Chung-sook says they should have gotten real food instead. This represents how hope is portrayed in this film as a false reassurance, as encouraging as it is if it can't give anything lasting or solid then it's eventually worthless. This is shown by Geun-sae using the rock to smash down Kim Ki-woo and escape and whose rampage destroys the Kims and Parks.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
(at around 19 mins) The peculiar self-portrait, made by her young son, that Mrs. Park (Cho Yeo-jeong) proudly shows off to Ki-Woo (Choi Woo-sik) on his first visit to the Parks, bears a very strong resemblance (altered, of course, to resemble a child's work) to the wild-eyed painting by the eccentric Mrs. Antony (Marion Lorne) of St. Francis, which her mad son Bruno (Robert Walker) finds amusing, in the classic Alfred Hitchcock film, Strangers on a Train (1951). (A clip from the Hitchcock scene is viewable on YouTube.) That this resemblance is probably not coincidental is attested to by the numerous Hitchcockian themes and tropes scattered throughout this film, as well as the very prominent placement of a Hitchcock video in one shot.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
(Around the 2-hour mark) Near the end of the film, when Kim Ki-taek steals food from the new owners' refrigerator, all the magnets holding the family's pictures on the fridge show Swiss motifs: the Swiss national flag, the flag of the city of Bern, and three tourist sites in Switzerland (the Kapellbrücke in Lucerne, Jungfraujoch and Harderkulm). This may indicate that the family is in fact Swiss and that Kim Ki-taek thought they were German because they speak German (which is spoken in Switzerland). Of course, they could also be Germans who traveled to Switzerland.
Career & Awards (6)
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After the film received an eight-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival, Bong Joon Ho took the microphone and said, "Thank you. Let's all go home." He later explained that the screening had ended close to midnight and he and the cast were so hungry that they had been whispering to each other about getting something to eat during the applause.
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First film in a foreign language to win the Academy Award for "Best Picture", and also the first movie to win the awards for both "Best Picture" and "Best International Film" (formerly Best Foreign Language Film). Essentially, this film is the first film to win two Oscars for the same thing, as both awards recognize the best film of the year.
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The film brought Bong Joon-ho a level of exposure and success that he hasn't known before, but he doesn't think it's affected him. "Still I don't know what happened, it's quite strange." He's writing the script for his next film and says it all feels the same as far as the process goes. He did send one of his Oscars to his mom's house, though.
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Italian actor/singer Gianni Morandi commented in an interview that he was overjoyed that the movie featuring his performance of the song "In Ginocchio Da Te" ("On My Knees Before You") won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Morandi called the film "exceptional" and director Bong Joon Ho "a genius". He also praised legendary Ennio Morricone, who did not compose the piece (its authors were Migliacci and Zambrini) but was responsible for its musical arrangement.
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The film brought Bong Joon-ho exposure and success on a level he had not known before, but he does not think it has affected him. "Still I don't know what happened, it's quite strange." He is writing the screenplay for his next film and says everything feels the same as the process moves forward. Still, he sent one of his Oscars to his mother's house.
Life & Family (2)
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Bong Joon-ho was never given an Americanized name like some of his fellow Koreans and like Mr. Park in the film who goes by Nathan, but he mentions that he learned his surname, Bong, has a meaning in the US. His first distributor in the US actually sat him down and explained what a bong is "and they actually gave me a real bong as a gift after the promotion of The Host." He adds that it caused him some trouble at the airport.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- IMDb
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