Are love and doubt always inversely proportional? ‘Decision to break up’

The strong team leader Hae-jun (Park Hae-il) is very different from the typical detective character in Korean movies, who boasts a muscular body in a leather jumper. He always wears a neat suit and tie. The same is true when running up steep stairs to chase a suspect. After the investigation into the suspect, he buys sushi, not seolleongtang or jjajangmyeon. “Dignity comes from pride,” he says.

In director Park Chan-wook’s new film ‘Decision to break up’, which was released to the domestic media at the premiere on the 21st, Hae-jun is a character that symbolically shows the dignity of the film. Hae-jun’s dignity as a detective comes not from physical strength and physical strength, but from his intuition to smell the crime from his opponent’s mannerisms and wounds on the back of his hands.

The moment Hae-jun first meets Seo-rae (Tang Wei), who has lost her husband, he has an intuition that he is the culprit. Seorae, who is not good at Korean, used the word ‘finally’ to refer to the death of her husband.

However, Hae-jun’s dignity as an elite detective is shattered by Seo-rae. Newspapers, interrogation, and incubation are the processes of confirming the past, personal relationships, character, tastes, and habits of the other person. Hae-jun realizes that his investigation is focused on human interest in Seo-rae instead of solving the case, and is frustrated with himself. If he had been the other suspect, he might have bought him a lunch box instead of high-end sushi, as he would for his junior detective.

In the first interview with Seo-rae, Hae-jun said, “I want to know the pattern” over the phone. Seo-rae asks about Hae-jun’s other case, “In Korea, if someone you like gets married, do you stop liking him?” The lines exchanged between the two of them span both love and suspicion, as Director Park said, “100% investigation and 100% romance.”

When a detective and a suspect fall in love with each other, love and suspicion are inevitably inversely proportional. As Seorae’s alibi is confirmed, their relationship develops rapidly. Not only the two of them, but also the audience pays attention to whether the conclusion will be between love and doubt.

However, the core of ‘decision to break up’ lies in breaking down this schematic view. In the second half of another incident, the relationship between love and doubt is reversed. Instead of being inversely proportional, they influence each other and multiply.

Not only Hae-jun and the audience can’t get rid of his doubts about Seo-rae until the end, but he also develops a stronger heart. The movie is designed so that Haejun’s love for Seorae and the emotions of the audience watching the two rise to the same intensity. The ending sequence, set against the backdrop of a wave-ridden beach, not only elevates emotions to the climax, but also shows the pinnacle of Park Chan-wook’s mise-en-scène.

As is known, director Park removed the shocking and grotesque depictions of his previous works, and filled the void with key words such as waves, fog, and collapse. Director Park said at a press conference that day, “It’s a passion. I thought that if I wanted to make a film that focused on subtle and hidden emotions rather than intense and rushing emotions, I had to lower the dial for provocative elements.”

Director Park said, “It’s a story about two people thinking about how to convey their feelings without revealing them explicitly, or how to hide unbearable emotions without being noticed.” Seorae’s poor Korean language serves as the main humor code and at the same time serves as a device to faithfully convey this intention of Director Park.

Tang Wei said, “I thought I had to express my emotions in a way that took me more deeply.” “There was a limit to memorizing the lines. I think the silent expression of emotions was better in the process.”

The Cannes Film Festival gave director Park the Best Director award last month and praised Park’s changed style. Director Park, who is preparing for the American HBO drama ‘Similar’, said, “I don’t know what the next work will be, but I have prepared several works with strong violence, sex, and exposure. It changes from time to time.”

Opens on the 29th. 138 minutes. 15 year old spectator.

[사진 출처 : 연합뉴스]