Lee Chang-dong's 'Possible Love': Cannes Drama Stunner — SkimNews
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- Lee Chang-dong's 'Possible Love' premiered at Cannes as part of a tribute omnibus to Kieślowski's 'Dekalog,' dedicated to the memory of 'Dekalog 10' but conceived independently rather than as a remake
- The 164-minute drama centers on two couples—wealthy first-time documentarian Ye-ji (Cho Yeo-jeong) and her trust-fund husband Sang-woo (Zo In-sung) versus working-class Mi-ok and her laid-off husband Ho-seok—brought together by a crackdown at Korean metals factory SP Heavy Industries
- Jeon Do-yeon delivers what the review calls 'another once-a-century performance,' marking her second Lee collaboration less than 20 years after 'Secret Sunshine'
- Lee and co-writer Oh Jung-mi drew the script from an incident at a massive Korean company more than 10 years ago, using a documentary-within-a-film construct to refract class dynamics
- Unlike Lee's 'Burning,' the story builds on an instance of terrible violence rather than building toward one, simmering to a boil as the couples spend a weekend at Sang-woo's western-coast vacation house
- The film shares its omnibus slot with Asghar Farhadi's 'Parallel Tales,' which the reviewer describes as 'dreadful'
Why it matters: Lee reunites Jeon Do-yeon nearly 20 years after 'Secret Sunshine' to expand his career-long exploration of Korean labor exploitation, while the Cannes omnibus placement positions the film for an elevated awards-season profile alongside a high-profile Farhadi project.
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