In Her Place
# In Her Place

In Her Place (Korean: 인 허 플레이스) is a 2014 Canadian-South Korean film directed and written by Albert Shin. The film follows a wealthy woman who moves in to the countryside home of a pregnant teenage girl and her mother and waits to adopt the unborn child.

It premiered on September 4, 2014, in the Toronto International Film Festival's Discovery program.

## Plot

Inspired by Korean culture's strong stigma against adoption, the film stars Gil Hae-yeon and Ahn Ji-hye as a mother and daughter living on a farm in South Korea. When the teenage daughter becomes pregnant, a woman (Yoon Da-gyeong) arrives from Seoul to propose a secret adoption, conditional on her staying with them for the duration of the pregnancy so that she can hide the adoption when she returns to Seoul after the baby's birth.

## Cast

* Gil Hae-yeon as Mother
* Ahn Ji-hye as Girl
* Yoon Da-gyeong as Woman
* Kim Chang-hwan as Police Officer

## Production

The film was shot entirely in Korea at Shin's family farm. Regarding his inspirations for the film, Shin said:

   I had this idea of, "What if I bring together three women? And what if they were of different generations? And what if I told the film from three different perspectives?" And, instead of it being vignettes I made it one linear film and switched the point of view, all contained in one space.

## Release

### Critical reception

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 80% based on 5 reviews, and an average rating of 7/10.

Variety's Jay Weissberg described the film as "an acutely observed psychodrama from sophomore helmer Albert Shin, powered by three sterling performances." Radheyan Simonpillai in NOW Magazine called it "an expertly plotted drama that packs a paralyzing emotional gut punch." The Toronto Star's Linda Barnard wrote, "Making good use of the mist-shrouded rural South Korea setting to create moody tension, Shin's film builds slowly to a shattering finale that shocks as much as it surprises."

### Accolades

The film was included in the list of Canada's Top Ten feature films of 2014, selected by a panel of filmmakers and industry professionals organized by Toronto International Film Festival. Shin was awarded the Jay Scott Prize at the 2014 Toronto Film Critics Association Awards for the film.

| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Canadian Screen Awards | March 1, 2015 | Best Motion Picture | Albert Shin, Igor Drljaca, Yoon Hyun Chan | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | March 1, 2015 | Best Director | Albert Shin | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | March 1, 2015 | Best Actress | Yoon Da-gyeong | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | March 1, 2015 | Best Actress | Ahn Ji-hye | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | March 1, 2015 | Best Supporting Actress | Gil Hae-yeon | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | March 1, 2015 | Best Screenplay | Albert Shin | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | March 1, 2015 | Best Editing | Albert Shin | Nominated |
| Wildflower Film Awards | April 7, 2016 | Best Director (Narrative Films) | Albert Shin | Nominated |
| Wildflower Film Awards | April 7, 2016 | Best Actress | Yoon Da-gyeong | Nominated |
| Wildflower Film Awards | April 7, 2016 | Best Cinematography | Moon Myeong-hwan | Nominated |
| Wildflower Film Awards | April 7, 2016 | Best New Actress | Ahn Ji-hye | Nominated |
| Wildflower Film Awards | April 7, 2016 | Best Supporting Actor/Actress | Gil Hae-yeon | Won |
