Review: Past Lives

Image courtesy of A24.

When she spoke about "heartbreak feeling good" in that commercial, Nicole Kidman might have been talking about "Past Lives," director Celine Song's wistfully romantic and crushingly sad debut film. The picture takes a lot of tropes we've become accustomed to - an immigration tale, a love triangle, a story set over a period of several decades - but still feels wise, poignant, and deeply moving.

Na Young (Seung Ah Moon) will soon become Nora when she and her family move from Seoul to Canada when she's a girl. Before she leaves, however, her mother wants her to leave her home country with good memories, so she asks her who she has a crush on - as it turns out, a boy named Hae Sung (Leem Seung-min) - and sets up a date for the two of them. 

The two young people have obvious chemistry and there's a beautiful shot of them as they part ways for their new lives: Na Young walking up a staircase and Hae Sung heading down an alleyway. Then, 12 years pass and the two reconnect online - Nora (Greta Lee) is an aspiring playwright in New York City, where she emigrated a second time, and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) has wrapped up his military service and is going to school to be an engineer. It's obvious that these two continue to have chemistry, but when it becomes obvious that neither is relocating, Nora suggests they take a hiatus from their online chats.

Another 12 years pass. During this period, Nora has met another writer, Arthur (John Magaro) during a retreat in Montauk that features some of the most gorgeous golden hour and nighttime photography I've seen in some time. They marry and seemingly live happily in the Village in New York City. Hae Sung, who has just broken up with a longtime girlfriend, decides to take a vacation in New York, although both Nora and Arthur are skeptical.

Their skepticism is validated as it turns out that Hae Sung has chosen his destination as a pretext to catch up with an old friend. Arthur tells Nora that when she talks in her sleep, she only speaks in Korean - which is a part of her that he'll never be able to completely understand, despite his noble attempts to learn her language. He is therefore - and, perhaps, not without reason - concerned about Hae Sung's impending visit.

Upon their first meeting, the concept of in-yun is introduced, albeit as a pretty funny punchline, and it's explained to refer to providence or fate. The idea is that if two people in a crowd pass close by each other and their sleeves touch, this must have been caused by events from thousands of years ago. Similarly, if two people marry, it is because something from their previous lives dictated this to occur.

There's a long - and often emotionally wrenching - sequence late in the film as Hae Sung goes out to dinner with Nora and Arthur. The conversation is forced, but not unfriendly. At one point, Nora and Hae Sung begin speaking their native language and discuss the what-ifs of their lives - possibly, they might have dated and broken up or gotten married and had kids, had Nora stayed in Korea. She tells him that while the girl she once was no longer exists for her, she still exists somewhere, possibly in Hae Sung's mind.

During this entire exchange, the camera occasionally pans to Arthur, and we wonder if his Korean lessons have allowed him to understand his wife's exchange with her childhood sweetheart. "Past Lives" is extraordinary, not just because of its lovely visual style and dialogue, its superb performances and poignant score, but also how it doesn't shortchange any of its characters. These are three people who have found themselves in an almost unbearable situation - and it's easy to feel empathy toward all of them.

This is an assured debut for Song. It may wear some of its stylistic or thematic influences on its sleeve - I'd have a hard time believing that Wong Kar Wai or Richard Linklater aren't among them - but this is a film that is so much more deeply felt, soulful, and thoughtful than most movies you'll see these days.

There was a recent Hulu program - "Fleishman is in Trouble" - that depicted a character played by Lizzie Caplan who was going through some sort of midlife crisis and ended up being the most fascinating character in the show. Her character didn't so much mourn the loss of her youth than the loss of possibility that being young entails. 

Similarly, in "Past Lives," the characters don't so much mourn their choices - Nora and Arthur obviously love each other, and Hae Sung appears pleased about that - as they do the idea that once you've reached a certain age, there are certain choices no longer available to you. Decisions you've made have led you down a path that has been determined by past actions, and where you are now is likely to determine where you'll be later in life. In "Past Lives," the choices have been made, and this lovely film is a dirge for roads not taken. It's one of the year's best.