the lives of those around her, and ultimately, herself. Cast Han Hyo-joo as Jung So-yul Kim Su-an as young Jung So-yul Chun Woo-hee as Seo Yeon-hee Yoo Yeon-seok as Kim Yoon-woo Park Sung-woong as Japanese police chief, Hirata Kiyoshi Jang Young-nam as San-wol Lee Han-wi as Purser Ryu Hye-young as Kim Ok-hyang Jang In-sub as Hong-seok Oh Ha-nee as Gyeongseong club employee Kim Bo-yoon as Yawn senior as Military police as Sampae student 1 as Councilor as Japanese army general Cha Ji-yeon as Lee Nan-young Kim Young-min as Producer Production and release Filming began on June 21, 2015 and finished on October 17. The three lead actors had previously worked together on the 2015 film The Beauty Inside. Han Hyo-joo accepted the role of So-yul because Love, Lies is female-dominated, unlike most recent successful Korean films. She also wanted to try a more challenging role, as this is the first time she played an antagonist. To prepare for the role, she learned Japanese, dancing, and traditional Korean songs. The film was launched in October 2015 at Busan International Film Festival's Asian Film Market. In March 2016, it was promoted at Hong Kong International Film & TV Market, securing distribution deals in Japan (KlockWorx), Taiwan (KBro Media) and the Philippines (Viva Communications). The VIP premiere was held on April 11, 2016 at Lotte Cinema in Songpa-gu, Seoul, and it premiered nationwide on April 13. It opened in fifth place at the box office, with 133,563 tickets sold across 572 screens. The film earned US$1.67 million in a five-day period (Wednesday to Sunday). Critical reception Rumy Doo of The Korea Herald called the film "meticulously made-up" and pointed to its painstaking recreation of 1940s Seoul (then called Gyeongseong). Doo said Han Hyo-joo's acting is "somewhat strained" in the beginning of the film, but her portrayal of a jealous, wronged woman is more convincing and "painfully human". Jin Eun-soo of the Korea JoongAng Daily called the film a "feast for the eyes and ears", praising the actors' musical talent, the costume design, and the reconstruction of 1940s Seoul. Yun Suh-young of The Korea Times also praised the actors' musical performance. Shim Sun-ah of Yonhap News Agency gave the film a more mixed review. She praised Han Hyo-joo and Chun Woo-hee's "brilliant performances", but said Chun's singing was not good enough to be believable for a character with "mesmerizing talent". Shim also disliked So-yul's