A Girl at My Door 2014

Following a personal scandal involving homosexuality, police academy instructor Yeong-nam, Bae Doona, is transferred from Seoul to take office as the chief of the police substation in the quiet seaside town of Yeosu. She keeps a low profile and endures the locals’ drunken excesses, yet she drinks heavily at home, decanting soju into water bottles.

In this sunlit, harbor-side setting, Yeong-nam encounters Sun Do-hee, a timid and withdrawn 14-year-old girl covered with cuts and bruises. Do-hee is bullied by classmates and beaten by both her drunk stepfather Yong-ha, Song Sae-byuk, and a drunken grandmother; her biological mother has abandoned them. The locals stay silent about Yong-ha’s abuses, since he is the town’s main employer, an oyster farmer.

When the body of Yong-ha’s mother is found floating in the water, ruled an accidental death tied to drunk driving, Yong-ha attacks Do-hee once more. Concerned for the girl’s safety, Yeong-nam offers to let Do-hee stay with her during the summer vacation, despite the scrutiny from villagers. For the first time, Do-hee has someone who does not hit her and who calls her by name instead of swearing at her. Do-hee bathes with Yeong-nam and imitates her, wearing her uniform and cutting her hair in the same style.

Yeong-nam is tracked to Yeosu by an ex-girlfriend who asks her to move to Australia with her. They argue and kiss, and Yong-ha sees the moment. When Yeong-nam discovers that Yong-ha employs underpaid illegal immigrants, Yong-ha accuses Yeong-nam of sexually abusing Do-hee to the police. Yeong-nam is taken into custody. She maintains that she had no improper contact with Do-hee and that taking in an abused child was her duty; the investigator replies that such conduct would be inappropriate for a gay woman. Do-hee tells the investigators that Yeong-nam sexually abused her, and Yeong-nam is imprisoned. Do-hee explains that her father told her to lie that Yeong-nam abused her. Yeong-nam is released and receives an apology. She visits Do-hee and asks whether Do-hee made what happened to her father and grandmother happen on purpose, then leaves. As she is driven away from town, Yeong-nam halts the car, searches for Do-hee, and asks her to come with her.