South Korean television series
Autumn in My Heart (Korean: 가을동화) is a 2000 South Korean romantic television drama starring Song Seung-heon, Song Hye-kyo, and Won Bin.[1] The series is the first installment of season-themed tetralogy Endless Love drama series directed by Yoon Seok-ho. It aired on KBS2 from September 18 to November 7, 2000, on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 (KST) for 16 episodes.
The series was very successful in South Korea, averaging viewership ratings of 38.6% and reaching a peak viewership of 46.1%. It is considered a pioneer in Korean melodramatic series, launching a worldwide fever that is commonly referred to as the "Korean Wave". Tours of sites in Korea related to the show have been developed following its success.[2]
Synopsis
The story begins with toddler Yoon Joon-suh, accidentally causing the switch of his sister and another baby when he drops the name cards on the two babies' cribs in the hospital's baby room. A nurse who comes in puts the name cards back incorrectly. The story then jumps forward to the teenage years of the two main characters: Yoon Eun-suh (Moon Geun-young) and Yoon Joon-suh (Choi Woo-hyuk). Eun-suh is the most popular girl in class, which incites the jealousy of her rival, Choi Shin-ae (Lee Ae-jung). Shin-ae is smart but does not get the attention she craves from the teacher and her classmates.
When Eun-suh gets hit by a truck and needs a blood transfusion, it is found out that she is not the Yoons' biological daughter. She instead belongs to the Chois. Choi Shin-ae is also discovered to not be the Choi's biological daughter, but the Yoons'. In the end, the two daughters return to their original birth parents. Shin-ae moves in with the Yoon family, and Eun-suh moves in with Mrs. Choi, (her biological father is dead) who operates a small restaurant living in abject poverty. Their situations are now reversed. Shin-ae is the more popular girl in class and Eun-suh is the one ignored. Shortly after the switch, the Yoon family moves to the United States and Eun-suh loses touch with them.
Ten years later, Joon-suh (Song Seung-heon) returns to South Korea as a successful artist. He goes back to his hometown. He encounters his old friend, Han Tae-seok (Won Bin), who stays at the hotel where Eun-suh (Song Hye-kyo) works as a telephone receptionist. Tae-seok, (who doesn't know about the brother and sister mix-up) falls in love with Eun-suh and manipulates her until she is fired from her job. One day Eun-suh sees Joon-suh and follows him to the beach where he is with his fiancée Yumi (Han Na-na) and Tae-seok. The two "siblings" finally meet again after ten years.
Eun-suh and Joon-suh appears to have a sibling relationship in front of the others, but they meet each other secretly and fall in love. Shin-ae (Han Chae-young) finds out about their relationship and exposes the two after she finds a love letter Eun-suh wrote to Joon-suh. The two decide to stay together, but are soon forced apart again because their parents are against the union. Yumi hurts herself and blackmails Joon-suh with suicide to hold on to him.
As a fight between Joon-suh and Tae-seok erupts over their love for Eun-suh, she discovers she has leukemia (the same fatal condition that killed her biological father). She doesn't tell anyone except Tae-seok, who offers to pay for her treatment. When her health deteriorates, the others begin finding out the extent of her condition. Eun-suh soon falls into a coma. Joon-suh finds out about Eun-suh's health and reacts with shock and fear, while Tae-seok forces Joon-suh to try to wake up Eun-suh. Eventually, Eun-suh wakes up, but is too weak to follow the treatment. When it is clear that there is no hope, Joon-suh takes her home so she can spend her last days with him. At this point, Yumi finally lets go of Joon-suh. Joon-suh proposes to Eun-suh and they get married. Eun-suh dies as Joon-suh carries her around the beach where they spent her birthday as teenagers.
Before Eun-suh dies, she tells Joon-suh to move on and continue living. However, Joon-suh, dazed and grief-stricken by the death of his love, is struck by a truck in the same place as Eun-suh's accident during her teenage years.
Soundtrack
The 13-track soundtrack for Autumn in My Heart includes Jung Il-young's heartfelt ballads "Reason", "Prayer" and "In My Dream" as well as the main flute theme and the guitar and piano versions of some of the songs.[3] "Romance", also known as "Forbidden Love" is a classic piece used for this soundtrack. It comes from a famous work of unknown authorship "Spanish Romance".
- Main Title (Flute ver.)
- Reason – Jung Il-young (Yoo Seung-bum/Lyrics by Kim Won-hee)
- Romance – Choi Tae-won
- Gido (Prayer) – Jung Il-young (Jung Jin Soo/Lyrics by Choi Hee Jin)
- Remember – Park Jung-Won
- Eolmana Naega (Sincerely) – Yoon Chang-gun
- Reason (Instrumental ver.)
- Romance (Piano ver.) – Lee Hong-rae
- Nunmul (Tears) – Lee Hong-rae
- Eolmana Naega (Sincerely) (Guitar ver.) – Guitar by Ham Choon-ho
- Kkum Sogeseo (In My Dream) – Jung Il-young
- Eolmana Naega (Sincerely) (Piano ver.) – Piano by Yoo Jung-young
- Gido (Prayer) (Piano ver.)
A song played during emotional scenes, but excluded from the soundtrack, was "Return to Love" by Kevin Kern.
