The film has many scenes of this as well as the excellent showcase of art and technical prowess displayed by Park Chan-wook, his actors, and his film crew.
- Sook-hee standing up to Fujiwara then letting him know that in no uncertain terms will she leave Lady Hideko with him after he groped her during the painting lesson. This also happened after she refused the money in exchange for leaving them alone.
- Sook-hee warning Fujiwara that he should never attempt to put her hand on his "tiny joke of a cock" ever again.
- Sook-hee in a fit of rage destroys the library and ensuring that the books are rendered useless is a heroic act and guaranteeing that her lover will never read a word from anything like those books ever again.
- Hideko finally gathering the courage to destroy the books by throwing ink all over them is a major breakthrough in her healing process.
- Hideko prevents Fujiwara from sleeping with her by brandishing a knife and threatening to stab him if he persists.
- The film has numerous shots that boast of excellent cinematography. It has excellent sweeping camera work especially where Hideko first enters the scene as the public reader.
- It has among the best production design of the year that it's a shame it wasn't nominated by the Academy.
- Kim Tae-ri was this close to setting a record in Korean Cinema by winning all of her nominations except the 2017 Baeksang awards for Best New Actress. However, the film won the Grand Prize after they thought that it will be a shut out.
- In spite of the controversy over her personal life, Kim Min-hee surprised the industry and the audience when she won Best Actress in the Blue Dragon Film Awards showing that her talent was undoubted.
- It won the BAFTA for Best Film not in the English Language in 2018, making it the first Korean Film ever to win at the British Academy Film Awards.
