Birth of Happiness (Ttosuni)

Korea 1963, 91 min, English subtitles

Tto-sun, daughter of a successful businessman, inappropriately falls in love with one of her father’s employees. Against her parents’ wishes, she leaves her family to live with her lover. The young woman quickly develops an exceptional business sense and comes to enjoy the advantages of her independence. Birth of Happiness is the cinema adaptation of a popular Korean radio soap opera of the 1960s which defied traditional gender roles and created a new, confident image of women.

This film has been restored by the Korean Film Archive.