Dusty, ashen and gray, the visual element in Oh Seung-uk’s “The Shameless” follows the typical formula of a crime noir film.

However, it is not a crime film, or a thriller. Its genre is melodramatic romance. But love is not the core theme of the film either, according to director Oh.

“It’s about a world that is rough, degenerate and horrifying, teeming with people who have no human respect,” he said at a press preview at CGV Wangsimni, Seoul, on May 13. “Through these main characters, I wanted to talk about the thinness and fragility of human dignity and respect.”

The flimsy nature of human respect comes to the forefront in this story about a heavily-indebted bar madam named Hye-kyung (Jeon Do-yeon), who is approached by an undercover detective named Jae-gon (Kim Nam-gil) chasing her boyfriend Jun-gil (Park Sung-woong) for a murder. 

Hye-kyung and Jae-gon are two people whose daily lives plunge them headfirst to the bottom rung of society and all its monstrosities. When the audience meets them it is clear that it has been a long time since they gave up common moral standards to ensure their survival.

She doesn’t hesitate to seduce her way into cash; he is mercilessly violent and cooperates with corrupt cops and thugs to secure his own career. Still, the characters are human because despite their best efforts they are instinctively shaken by feelings of attachment and love.

“She is perfectly capable of living on her own,” said Jeon about her character, who seems inexplicably willing to remain in a toxic relationship with the murderous boyfriend. “But she wants to have someone that she can feel steady with. She dreams of love, and a future.”

The idea of a time-hardened bargirl still holding on to dreams of a happy ending is nothing new, but the Cannes-winning actress’ carefully controlled performance is able to breathe life into the cliche, and to the film overall.

“If you look at well-made masculine movies, you need strong female characters to complete the male characters. All men have an innate fear or guilt about women. I knew I needed a woman to explore those emotions,” said Oh.

Jeon does her part, moving smoothly between silent despair, seething, and longing. Her emotional vulnerability is not displayed outright but shown in rare, unexpected glimpses, almost as if Jeon herself had no control about when her character would let down her guard.

Unfortunately, her counterpart Kim has trouble keeping up, often seeming simply stoic, even blase. There are a few moments when the camera catches a flash of emotion in his eyes, but it is clear that Jeon is the one bringing drama to their dreary world.

“Hye-kyung is not stupid. She knows her fate (is not a happy one). She knows, but she tries anyway, and it’s an impressive sight to see,” Oh said.

With Jeon at its core, “The Shameless” is absorbing and weighty, with a steady pace and a well-placed dramatic soundtrack. It screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival, and is set to open in local theaters May 27.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)