Past Lives
Widely seen as Oscarworthy, Celine Song’s acclaimed romantic drama relies on a key concept akin to kismet.
In transit: Teo Yoo and Greta Lee
The romanticism inherent in the character and outlook of each individual viewer will dictate their response to this first feature from the Korean born writer/director Celine Song. Because that is key to the appreciation of Past Lives it means that the star rating system, usually a useful guide to a film’s quality, is of little help here, but I should certainly point out that in contrast to this review there are many critics ready to give it five stars. What you will get from Past Lives depends not only on the extent to which you favour films that are love stories but also on your reaction to the particular kind of romantic sensibility that the tale told here expresses.
Song was born in South Korea, came to Canada with her parents at the age of twelve and later moved on to New York City which has become her home. Past Lives may not be altogether autobiographical but it is clearly influenced by Song’s own life because the central character, Nora (Greta Lee), is given a life that follows that very same pattern even to the extent of Nora, like Song herself, becoming a playwright. In portraying Nora’s story the film shows her at three different ages, first the 12-year-old on the eve of her departure from Seoul, next her situation at twenty-four and, finally, her seemingly settled existence living on New York’s East Side with her husband, Arthur (John Magaro), a considerate Jewish American who has a career as a writer. However, there is a third central character in the person of Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), a fellow Korean of the same age as Nora. These two had established the closest of bonds as children but he had stayed put and had gone on to study engineering in Korea. Despite a re-connection through Skype some twelve years later which was then put aside as they went their very different ways, they would not see each other face-to-face as adults until Hae Sung at the age of thirty-six visits New York intending to meet again the woman who had been his childhood sweetheart.
As you might anticipate from this description Past Lives belongs at heart to a familiar genre, that centred on a romantic triangle. It is of course, relatively unusual to build this on a bond created in childhood but, even if Nora and Hae Sung have never experienced physical intimacy, the story is one that raises the question of whether or not the love felt by these children possesses a lasting significance and depth, one that Nora needs to recognise even if it might then follow that she should leave Arthur and make a life with Hae Sung instead.
Those critics already predicting Oscar glory for Past Lives could well be right. Much of the dialogue is in Korean and subtitled and, if it should compete for Best International Feature Film, it would have the huge advantage of having a storyline that would resonate with voters readily responsive to the appeal of a love story. Furthermore, the film does indeed impress in its own right, not least in its opening scenes which score a double whammy. Celine Song comes up with a brilliant opening when the first image that we see is of the three central characters sitting side-by-side in a New York bar. In a brilliantly original stroke this shot is accompanied by a voice over, an unseen person in that bar contemplating on the possible relationships that may exist between these three. This immediately arouses our own curiosity and draws us into the film’s next scene set twenty-four years earlier which thus marks the start of the chronological narrative. This section brings in two child actors, Moon Seung-ah who appears as the young Nora (at that time known as Na Young) and Leem Seung-min as the 12-year-old Hae Sung. The film gains from the atmospheric visuals of Seoul (Song’s direction is admirably cinematic) but the special triumph here lies in the surprising ability of the two child players to convey the exceptional rapport that these characters have found in each other’s company. For me, this segment is the finest in the film.
What follows is in my eyes more of a mixed bag. Much of it is distinguished, including the performances of Lee and Yoo, but the film is not averse to incorporating standard touches found in many run-of-the-mill love stories: the music score with its use of a solo piano bringing in orchestral strings is one such while a beautiful evening sky features more than once. The material does have the advantage of lending itself to concerns about immigrants who settle and who find themselves torn between two cultures, but the screenplay renders a key scene on this theme self-consciously post-modern (it opts to have Arthur discussing the question with Nora by pointing out what a great story their situation would make). There is a weakness too in the episode where Nora and Arthur meet for the first time: it takes place puzzlingly in an empty country house not seen before and only belatedly do we learn that it is used as an artists residency.
However, these are relatively minor points beside the one crucial factor that is decisive when it comes to Past Lives either working or keeping you at a distance. Even if Arthur is sympathetically portrayed, there is a strong sense that the viewer is meant to invest in the idea that Nora and Hae Sung are made for each other. The fact that Nora has married and that Hae Sung has been involved in another relationship in Korea, albeit a failed one, might make that less than self-evident. Nevertheless, the film turns on the notion of what Koreans describe as In-Yun. It’s a belief not far removed from the notion of Kismet since it relates to the role of providence or fate in human lives – but it is rather more detailed and its relevance here is confirmed by the film’s very title. In-Yun has been described as an invisible force that drives two people together over not just one but several lifetimes and for Song’s film to achieve a real impact one has to buy into that. I was readily swept up by the romanticism of such contrasted classic films as The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Brief Encounter, but the concept of In-Yun is alien to me. That’s unfortunate because the emotional impact of Past Lives depends on seeing its two central figures in that light: it’s not an extra, it’s crucial.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro, Moon Seung-ah, Leem Seung-min, Ji Hye Yoon, Won Young Choi, Ahn Min-Young, Seo Yeon-Woo, Jojo T. Gibbs, Federico Rodrigiez, Conrad Schott, Kirsten Sieh.
Dir Celine Song, Pro David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon and Pamela Hoffer, Screenplay Celine Song, Ph Shabier Kirchner, Pro Des Grace Yun, Ed Keith Fraase, Music Christopher Bear and Daniel Rossen, Costumes Katina Danabassis, Dialect coach Sharon Choi.
A24/CJ ENM/Killer Films/2AM-StudioCanal.
106 mins. USA/South Korea. 2023. US Rel: 2 Jun 2023. UK Rel: 8 September 2023. Cert. 12A.
