Phoenix (2004)

A delightfully twisty inversion of the Cinderella story, Phoenix is about a woman who, by choosing to marry beneath her, falls from princess-status to peasant-status, and then rises again like the proverbial firebird. Lee Ji Eun defies her parents' wishes to marry poor student Jang Sae Hoon, but unable to handle the burdens of poverty, she later succumbs to her family's pressure and divorces him. Heartbroken, her husband leaves for the U.S., and the two don't see each other again until Sae Hoon returns to Korea as a wealthy, self-made businessman, and runs into her again, now a lowly domestic helper. Ji Eun, having experienced many humbling turns in life since he left, is struggling to keep herself and her family afloat, and finds that their roles have been reversed-but will Sae Hoon ever be able to forgive her? Can the ashes of their love turn back into a flame?