Korean cinema just keeps on giving with Possible Love. The striking new film from Lee Chang-dong, whose last feature was 2018’s critically-admired Burning, it again shows what a deep understanding he has of human nature. A story of two married couples whose paths cross, the director has called it a film “about love, as well as human desire”. Maybe so, but even that feels too simplistic a summary for a four-way character study that deals with everything from workers’ rights to psychological shame and mental fragility.
Premiering in competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival before being released via Netflix, the film begins with a nod to the final part of Krzysztof Kieślowski’s epic Ten Commandments-inspired 1989 mini-series Dekalog, ‘Thou Shalt Not Covet’ (a reference he makes explicit at the very end).
While there is little immediate connection between this domestic tale set in modern-day Korea and that story of two brothers who inherit a valuable stamp collection from their father, it’s a suitable sign of respect from one great filmmaker to another.
Here, the story begins with Mi-ok (Jeon Do-yeon), who lives with husband Ho-seok (Sul Kyung-gu) and their son Cheol. A welder, Ho-seok has been let go and struggled to find work since. His marriage to Mi-ok is already fragile; he is prone to drinking too much and getting into fights. Unemployment has also weighed heavily on him, to the point where his wife is begging him to go to therapy and share his burden.
In an unusual way, that very opportunity arises when Mi-ok encounters Ye-ji (Cho Yeo-jeong), a documentary filmmaker who is gathering testimonies for a film about blue-collar employees battling their bosses.
“Soon all workers will disappear,” we’re told, in a narrative strand that touches on the rise of AI and the dangers so many of us now face, as tech takes over and jobs are slashed. Curiously, it feels like a companion to fellow Korean Park Chan-wook’s workplace black comedy No Other Choice, which premiered in Venice last year.
View oEmbed on the source websiteYet Possible Love veers, fascinatingly, in other directions. Ye-ji is married to Sang-woo (Zo In-sung), a handsome businessman apparently nicknamed ‘Dream Lover’ in his school days. Now he spends his life slickly orchestrating deals down the phone, in English, and even teaching Mi-ok’s son Cheol some cool taekwondo moves. He also comes from money, owning a family beach home, which will become a fascinating stage for the film’s final hour.
With Ye-ji keen to interview Ho-seok about his experiences being laid off, the quartet grow closer, sharing meals and so on. Arguably, Ye-ji crosses a line that no documentary filmmaker should cross, getting to know her subject too intimately and showing little impartiality. Does she even care about Ho-seok’s feelings? The more she delves, the more angsty he gets, as he’s forced to recall some traumatic moments with his co-workers that left him shattered.
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Thinking of the ‘Thou Shalt Not Covet’ reference, Lee toys with the idea that both couples seemingly want something the other has. While Mi-ok and her family are taken aback to see the wealth that Ye-ji and Sang-woo enjoy, there’s an attraction the other way too – albeit more hidden. Every character, it seems, has something their opposite number desires.
With flashbacks to the past to broaden out the story, it’s an utterly absorbing drama, despite a run-time that clocks in at 164 minutes. Fear not, though, because you will get sucked in by a stimulating story and four top-notch performances, the best being Sul Kyung-gu, who first worked with Lee back on 1999’s Peppermint Candy. The result is that rare thing: a movie that explores a vast spectrum of emotions. And, believe it or not, even a bit of toilet humour.
Possible Love arrives in UK cinemas on 23 October and on Netflix on 6 November. You can sign up to Netflix from £7.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky TV and Virgin Media.
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