In Her Place

Inspired by Korean culture's strong stigma against adoption,^[1] 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.

The film was shot entirely in Korea at Shin's family farm.^[2] 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.^[2]

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.^[3]

Variety's Jay Weissberg described the film as "an acutely observed psychodrama from sophomore helmer Albert Shin, powered by three sterling performances."^[4] Radheyan Simonpillai in NOW Magazine called it "an expertly plotted drama that packs a paralyzing emotional gut punch."^[5] 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."^[6]

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.^[7] Shin was awarded the Jay Scott Prize at the 2014 Toronto Film Critics Association Awards for the film.^[8]

• In Her Place at IMDb
• In Her Place at Rotten Tomatoes