This is a feminist story, there's no doubt about that. Its starts off easy enough, a mum who had ambitions, settling down as a stay at home mum. We all that person. But that's not all a person is, and she struggles to come to terms with her simple life, we catch glimpses of the different parts of her identity, growing up from a young girl to a careerist, then to a wife, now a mum. We see glimpses of her steps to womanhood and the stifling restrictions set up for what society a woman can be, especially in a conversative Korean environment.

This story is relatable for women, seeing the stuggle to juggle many identities at once, to be a good mum, to be respected in the working worlds, to be a loving wife, to be approved by the in laws, these crazy standards and tireless efforts to please everyone, takes a heavy toll. Kim Ji Young is a young mum of young kid who has to put aside her career aspirations aside to care for her child and home. To do that successfully is hard enough, but on top of that, she feels trapped, as that is all her efforts in life can amount to. Her loving husband isn't to blame, who seeks to share the burden after hours of work, or all to her own family who care about her wellbeing, but who have no idea what is wrong with her . It's the never ending cycle of her life as a just a mum that scares her. She becomes unfulfilled by the routine and seeks out freedom by trying to see if she could get a job, to almost taking on a full time role, flipping the gender roles, almost, but to no avail. There is too much to lose. (She can never earn as much as her husband, especially she is the breadwinner)

The people who can't see she is struggling, only her husband, who eventually asks her to get professional help, who is the one who finally tells her mother. This coincides with her really letting out her repressed frustrations at the unfairness of it all, her anger, and coming into terms with her mental health issues and finally being able to say, yes, she is hurt, and she wants help. The men in her life, her father, her brother uncover the ignorance they didn't really notice until her mother, also, seeing Ji Young in pain, let out her pain. The blame can't be put into one person, after all, its society, and its a cycle, that the movie seems to ask, can we really break free from? In the end, this movie at least, allows Kim Ji Young finds her voice and decides to pursue her dream of writing a book, this book, as if giving her some form of control back in her life, and manifest an identity that isn't just tied to being her child's mother. It takes immense courage, loving understanding from others, and her letting go of her past happenings in her life that lets her to start anew.

TLDR: The cast is great, and its a simple story, that just needs to be simply told. I'll like to read the book to compare it with.