Love scandals and art

German composer Richard Wagner fled to Switzerland after participating in the revolution, and fell in love with Mathilde Wesendonck who was a wife of his neighbor and a wealthy silk merchant Otto Wesendonck. Wesendonck Lieder was a love poem that Wagner composed to portray his hopeless love with Mathilde. The wife of Hans von Bulow was Cosima Wagner, the daughter of Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt. Cosima lost her heart to Wagner, and even had his child. Bulow knew their relationship but played Tristan and Isolde, which was composed by Wagner. The Act 2 of the opera contains the most opulent and passionate love duet. Cosima eventually became the second wife of Wagner.

Korean writer Kim Dong-ri had three wives. He later confessed that he got a child from the first woman, wealth from the second and love from the third wife. The third woman, Seo Yeong-eun, was his student when Kim was with his second wife and 30 years younger than him. Their secret love was revealed when his second wife died of cancer. Seo married Kim and lived with him for eight years until he passed away.

Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman, who starred in Casablanca, fell in love with Italian director Roberto Rossellini after watching his movie Open City. She wrote a letter to Rossellini to express her admiration and they began an affair, which caused a huge scandal in the U.S. as both were already married to different persons. Because of the conservative film industry at that time, Bergman was denounced by all film production companies that chose not to have her on their movies if she continues the affair. Bergman did not return to Hollywood for 10 years to be with Rossellini.

South Korea's Kim Min-hee has won best actress at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival on Saturday for "On the Beach at Night Alone” directed by Hong Sang-soo. In the film, she played the role of an actress pondering her relationship with a married movie director. The main character’s line, “Why don’t people leave us alone,” strongly reminded the audience of the director’s intimate relationship with Kim in real life. Kim said during her acceptance speech, "I honor you, and I love you Hong Sang-soo," instead of “Thank you, director.” Hong’s film is recognized to be too much like a real story, and perhaps the reality is too much like a movie.