In the last few decades, South Korean director Lee Chang-dong has been one of the most frequently acclaimed filmmakers currently working – and his latest film Possible Love is another critical triumph.
The new drama – which arrives on Netflix this weekend following a brief theatrical run – comes eight years after his previous film Burning was released to rave reviews in 2018, but the genesis of this project actually dates back even further than that.
In fact, Lee had first started writing the script back in the early 2010s in response to worker protests in Korea and the ensuing violent police crackdown, but eventually put the project on hold as he struggled to find the right way to tackle it.
It now arrives with even greater urgency than before, given various factors that have further affected workers’ rights in the intervening time, not least the advent of AI.
“That particular event [that first inspired me] signalled a fundamental change in the Korean labor movement,” Lee explained to Radio Times during an exclusive interview during the recent London Film Festival.
“It was a critical event that allowed for the general public to think that the rights of labourers were no longer more important than the market capital or the market value of a company or its profitability, and that was what really hurt the laid-off workers the most: the fact that the general public was no longer on their side, that they were no longer able to fight for their own rights, and it led to a very deep wound and immense trauma.
“That psychological shock has only grown worse with time, I think,” he added. “Because many people can no longer fight for their rights. We live in a time where labour itself is about to disappear, especially with the emergence of AI.
“The sense of self is weakening as well. So I think that is only growing worse, and that trauma is not only limited to people that have directly been laid off, but I think it affects everyone who must work but is continuing to lose that value of labour and sense of identity based on work.”
The film focuses on two married couples whose paths cross in a manner which gradually leads to various fascinating revelations coming to light.
Two of Lee’s previous collaborators Sul Kyung-gu and Jeon Do-yeon star as laid-off worker Choi Ho-seok and his wife Ahn Mi-ok, while Parasite’s Cho Yeo-jeong plays Lee Ye-ji, a documentary filmmaker making a movie about laid-off workers, and Zo In-sung plays her wealthy business owner husband.
Interestingly, this second couple was only added to the story when Lee revived the project after he had previously abandoned it – with the initial focus only having been on Choi Ho-seok and Ahn Mi-ok.
“The story began with the married couple of the laid-off worker, and the closer I got to their lives, the more I did research, and the more I was able to feel their pain,” he said.
“But I couldn’t really answer my questions of: How honest can I be in telling their story? What does it mean for me to make it into a dramatic feature film? How close can I be toward them? And am I worthy of telling their story?
“I wasn’t able to answer these questions with conviction, so I had to give up on the project for a while. It was when I brought in the documentary filmmaker and her husband as new characters to the story that it became my story to tell, and I was able to explore themes of my attitude and my ethics as a filmmaker due to these two new characters.
He continued: “The character Ye-ji, the documentary filmmaker, represents all storytellers, including myself, who deal with the story of others. And the character of her husband represents capital, which dominates the time that we live in, allowing me to explore themes of labor versus capital as well.”
For stars Jeon and Sul, the prospect of dealing with complex human relationships was one of the many things – alongside reuniting with Lee – that sold them on the project.
“I don’t think I’ve noticed or felt so much of how AI was violating fundamental human rights,” Jeon explained. “However, that time will come, and when that time comes, it will really erode our identity in our workplace and the work that we do.
“So then, what becomes the motivating or driving factor in our lives as human beings? And what I really appreciated about Possible Love is that the one of the suggestions that the film gives that is that it’s love between human beings that will be driving us forward.”
Sul added: “I’ve had questions like, ‘Do you think that AI could ever replace actors?’ And I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s the case because they can’t feel pain or sadness. I think they can be very complementary or have a supporting role, but I don’t think they’ll be able to ever replace actors entirely.
“I think if that were to be the case, that it would create a very unhappy society where the value of labour is increasingly diminished. When I saw the Korean film No Other Choice [directed by Park Chan-wook] last year and saw the frightening ending… I really hope that that time never comes for us.”
Possible Love arrives 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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