This is director Kim Ki-Duk’s 9th film and the movie deals with such subjects as desire, retribution for the deeds of a former world, and reincarnation in which they are displayed with a touch of lyricism. The setting takes place in a remote small temple built above the lake and the subtitles spring, summer, autumn, and winter show each stages of life of the character. It is interesting to watch the structure of the movie as the life of the character moves on into a full open cycle. It begins with the hero first being a careless Buddhist monk and then becoming a young man filled with desire and then turning into a jealous man in his thirties and then passing through the middle years trying to wash away the deeds of his former self and then going back to being a monk.