His shyness and inhibitions push her out of reach. He clings to his infatuation with Nora, while being only too aware she is a married woman. Nora is still the positive, assertive personality, Hae Sung is almost painfully passive. Song plays these scenes for all they are worth, making them tingle with awkward pauses, intense glances and fumbled conversation. She wants to see him too, even though it creates a tense situation with her husband, who fears Nora will not be able to resist the literary allure of nostalgic lost love.Īs the couple have not seen each other in the flesh for 24 years, Hae Sung’s visit is fraught with anticipation. He is coming to New York and wants to see Nora. Twelve more years go by, and suddenly Hae Sung gets in touch again. At no stage do we see any of their writing, although there is a launch for a novel Arthur has written, with the fetching title of Boner. One wonders about the couple’s combined literary talents in a scene where they talk about “laying” rather than “lying” in bed. Shortly afterwards, at a writers’ retreat, she meets an aspiring Jewish novelist named Arthur (John Magaro), whom she will marry. Abruptly, Nora decides they should pause these conversations. The online exchange continues, although neither party wants to leave their own country for a meeting. During all these years he’s never stopped thinking about her. He has done his national service and is studying to be an engineer. She rings him and they talk, face to face via their computers. While idly discussing her past life in Korea with her mother, she finds a Facebook message from Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), who has been trying to re-connect with her. Twelve years later, Nora (Greta Lee) is an aspiring playwright, living in Manhattan. “Bye” is all Hae Sung manages to say.įrom left: Greta Lee, John Magaro and Teo Yoo star in “Past Lives”. They walk home together until their paths diverge. The parting from Hae Sung happens in a kind of emotional vacuum. The only problem is that Na-young’s family are about to migrate to Canada, where she will take on the Western name, Nora. Or rather, as Na-young puts it, Hae Sung will marry her if she tells him to. They hold hands, play together in the park, and accept they’ll probably get married. Na-young (Seung Ah Moon) and Hae Sung (Seung Min Yim) are sweethearts. We cut back 24 years, meeting the Asian man and woman as children in Seoul. An anonymous voice-over speculates on the relationship between these people, giving expression to our own curiosity. Alongside her, at a small distance, sits a Western man with a beard. An Asian man is exchanging gazes with an Asian woman. The film begins with a tableau vivant of three people sitting in a bar. For a movie in which very little happens, Past Lives has been a surprising international hit. I’m sure it’s this superior realism that has touched so many viewers, as the story feels much closer to home than those screen fantasies we experience vicariously. It is a drama of accommodation, a minimalist romance in which the spectre of a grand passion is held tantalisingly at bay. In this sense, Past Lives is notable for what it leaves out. For those unable to accommodate themselves to reality, life is simply unbearable. We can all wonder what life might have been like had we stayed with X, or never met Y, but it’s a futile game. In “Past Lives”, Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) and Nora (Greta Lee) portray childhood sweethearts who are torn apart by fate. One can’t step into the same river twice. Life itself is parsimonious with such opportunities. The temptation of fiction is to improve on life, to fulfil fantasies and repair omissions by turning back the clock and, this time, getting it right. It’s no surprise to learn that Celine Song’s Past Lives is strongly autobiographical, as no purely fictional tale could resist so many opportunities for dramatic or romantic cliche.
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