Past Lives (2023)

Director: Celine Song

Running Time: 106 minutes

Star Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Description

In Celine Song’s debut film Past Lives (2023), Nora and Hae-sung explore their pasts, presents and futures with and without one another. Nora moves to the USA from South Korea when she is young, meaning she loses touch with her best friend and crush, Hae-sung. Twelve years later, she realises he’s been looking for her on social media and they become close again through online calls. Another twelve years pass and more changes have occurred with Nora married to Arthur and Hae-sung on a break with his on and off girlfriend. The right time for romance never seems to arrive for this ill-fated pair, as their yearning fails to solidify into anything more than knowing looks and smiles across the widening gap between them.

At the beginning, Nora pretends she doesn’t care about emigrating, refusing to allow her emotions out authentically and it is Nora again twelve years later who pushes Hae-sung away, worried that her feelings for him will distract her from her writing career in New York. However, in the final scenes, Nora seems at once grateful for her current life and regretful she never got to lead the life that would have brought her together with her childhood best friend.

Review

There are many moments throughout this film that ought to feel awkward and slow but the chemistry between the two characters limits awkwardness and openly demonstrates the depth of feeling between them. Greta Lee’s range of facial expressions especially allow us inside Nora’s head without necessarily verbalising her emotions.

I’m sure most people can say they had a high school crush they lost contact with. You may not be at the level of yearning Nora is at in this film but I’m sure you’ve occasionally wondered what they’re doing now. It’s that curiosity and the generally unanswered questions that accompany it that make this film poignant and relatable.

The communication through Zoom calls also calls into mind the trials of the pandemic. In 2020, we had no choice but to call our loved ones over the internet if we wanted to see them. The inclusion of this physical distance pairs with Nora’s emotional distance as she attempts to figure out what she wants from her life. It also hearkens back to a time when communication was near impossible for all of us, regardless of romantic status.

The differences between the New York and Korean lifestyles is another aspect of Past Lives that I feel is explored extremely well. There are bars and drinking and neon signs in both cities but that doesn’t mean the cities’ inhabitants are the same. Nora recognises that Korea is her home but that New York has become her home too, and her relationship with Hae-sung could be viewed as a metaphor for this hybridity.

Nora is incredibly open about her confusion surrounding Hae-sung but Arthur remains by her side and offers her the time to understand what she wants. He is a patient and secure husband despite the concern he clearly feels during certain moments. The scene in the bar is heart-breaking from all three characters’ perspectives but somehow they get through it and continue living their respective lives.

Past Lives says something about the human condition, nostalgia and regret. That’s regret for leaving things unsaid, regret for not being in a certain place at a certain time and regret for leaving. It is a beautifully shot film with visuals from two major global cities and music that feels like we’re in a dreamscape.

Recommendation or Regret?

There are arguments that Nora is micro-cheating with Hae-sung and I think they are valid. It seems to me that Nora has not decided who she wants to spend her life with until the bar scene when she is sitting between Arthur and Hae-sung. In fact, based on the ending, it’s impossible to say whether she would even stay with her husband once things have settled down. Therefore, if you can’t bear to watch films with these themes of maybe infidelity, Past Lives will not be for you but I thought it explored some intriguing themes expertly.

It’s a quiet, meandering film that many would find slow and dull but I found it to be just the right pace for what it was trying to say. I would certainly recommend it, especially for people who enjoy films about humans being a bit messy.