Set in 1935 Gyeongseong, Portraits of Delusion revolves around Jeong Hwa, a woman who hasn’t left the Nammun Hotel in decades. Played by Suzy, she commissions a portrait every ten years, and this time the painter invited into her closed world is Lee Ho, portrayed by Kim Seon Ho.
Directed by Han Jae Rim, the film builds outward from quiet conversations between an immortal woman and the artist who makes her his muse. The result is a restrained, atmospheric story about desire, beauty, and the weight of living forever.
Jeong Hwa is a character whose beauty is inseparable from her tragedy. “Her beauty is the story itself,” Han says, “but it also becomes her shackles.” Rather than displaying emotion, she appears to control it. “She’s scarier and sadder when she looks like someone managing her feelings instead of revealing them.”
Lee Ho is defined by contrast. Behind his calm expression, old wounds and convictions collide. Han explains, “The more he tries to stay composed, the more his human instability leaks through,” adding, “A single expression can decide a scene. The tone stays low, but it has to be sharp.” For both roles, the director set a clear rule for the actors: “Avoid excess.”
The film’s vampires are not framed as simple monsters. “They already possess the beauty and elegance humans spend their lives chasing,” Han says. “But that comes at the cost of other people’s time, lives, and warmth.” In Portraits of Delusion, the vampire becomes “the extreme form of a very human desire—not wanting to age, not wanting to disappear.” Han expects mixed reactions. “If you feel drawn in and repelled at the same time, that’s the right response.”
The clash between vampires and their hunters avoids easy morality. “It’s not good versus evil,” Han says. Hunters fight to prove they are human, while vampires seduce to prove they have surpassed humanity. “They collide to confirm their own existence.”
One of the film’s key moments is intentionally small. Jeong Hwa and Lee Ho sit facing each other, trading seemingly trivial lines. “Between those pauses, her past slips through,” Han explains, and Lee Ho begins to fall under her spell. Han believes viewers will follow Lee Ho’s gaze to the same destination. “At some point, you stop trying to understand her,” he says. “Without realizing it, you’re already captivated.”
Portraits of Delusion streams on Disney+ in the second half of 2026.
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In the meantime, watch Kim Seon Ho in Catch the Ghost on Amasian TV for free.
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