“The Decision to Leave” Uncertain memories and vision, what is the “solution” in life?

“The Decision to Leave” synopsis

Detective Hye-jun, who is investigating the case of a man who fell to his death from a mountaintop, and the victim's wife So-rae meet during the investigation. As the interrogation progresses, their eyes meet and inexpressible emotions well up in each of their hearts. Before long, Hye-jun is attracted to So-rae, and she also begins to have special feelings for Hye-jun. Eventually, a clue is found in the investigation, and it seems the case has been solved. However, this is just the beginning of a "maze of love" where feelings and suspicions for each other swirl...

Index

• Unsolved Life
• Illusion and division
• Even that person's fingers
• Open wounds

Unsolved Life

"When I see her face on the screen, it always looks like a closed box, and I have no idea what is inside it. When she is silent, a lot can be contained in that silence." (Park Chan-wook)*1

Desire wriggling in the depths of the film. In "The Decision to Leave" (22), the depictions that one would expect from Park Chan-wook's films are deliberately sealed away. Nevertheless, no matter which scene you cut out from this film, the mark of Park Chan-wook as a unique filmmaker is oozing out. Quietly and surely. Park Chan-wook positions this film as an "adult film," but this is truly an astonishing maturity and achievement.

Although this film has a classic plot that has been told many times before, such as Park Chan-wook's beloved Basic Instinct (1992), about a mysterious suspect and a detective who is attracted to him, this film deviates from that framework. With its two-part, meticulous plot, clockwork-like screenplay, and So-rae (Tang Wei) who is clad in the image of a femme fatale, it slips away from that image. The scene in the interrogation room where all these elements come together sensually will go down in history. Just watching this scene alone makes this film worth watching. More than that, I think of "The Decision to Leave" as a nearly perfect film.

“Decision to Leave” © 2022 CJ ENM Co., Ltd., MOHO FILM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

A love that is outside the definition of the world. A love that is not love. Anti-love. In this relationship that we don't know how to define, there is a sensuality like a Wong Kar-wai movie. Sensuality like the rhythm of the tango. It slowly but surely permeates the audience's hearts like ink spreading in water. At the center of this fascinating and inexplicable emotion is a woman named So-le, played by Tang Wei. Desire, fear and curiosity swirl at crazy speed between the words and silent gaze of So-le, an immigrant from China.

Life is a series of unsolved cases, and if we look back carefully, surely we have never solved anything in our lives? And what does "solving" even mean? The author, astonished by this masterpiece, remains trapped in that feeling.

Illusion and division