Casting Cinderella

Seo Sa-Ra is South Korea’s top star, an actress who has spent a decade in the entertainment industry. When asked what she has improved most during those ten years, she answers not her acting but her patience—and her mental illness. After surviving so long in the spotlight, she believes she has endured everything. Then Yoon Seung-tae enters her life: a capable, handsome third-generation chaebol bearing an unexpected offer. Their first exchange feels less like a courtship than a negotiation. When he asks to meet again, Sa-Ra wonders if it sounds almost like a threat. He insists it is simply a proposal, something mutually beneficial. He wants to cast her into his own life, calling her a real Cinderella who left behind an earring like a glass slipper. He may not be a prince, he says, but he is searching for the Cinderella who left it. The genre he is plotting remains unclear—though Sa-Ra notes that anyone with pierced ears can wear the earring. Is this truly a romantic comedy?