Obsession, possession, love. Indeed, the consequences of love. In our in-depth analysis, we explain why Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave is a romantic-noir about the (un)desired effects of our instincts.
The paradigm would be simple if we started from the symbolic ending but, taking into account that the epilogue belongs to them impressiveWe certainly don’t get into spoilers. It would be unfair, stupid and unprofessional to spoil your vision by anticipating a conclusion that, in our opinion, is among the best in recent years (allow us a flight of fancy!). Then, like the same Park Chan-wookwe go around wide, and focus on the equation starting from the beginning: Decision to Leave, behind the neo-noir aspects (as it has been rightly defined) is a film about the revelation (and revolution) of love in its most abstract and existential state. The mysteries to be solved are a bottomless pit, in an immersion that brings everything down, submerging us: the rhythm, the characters, the plot, the moods, the schematic that returns, while the beloved South Korean director deconstructs his narrative propensity towards violence and sexOldboy, Lady Vengeance e The Handmaiden) to trace a work on obsession that becomes obsessive, turning the page of love as absolute sharing, as well as priority towards one’s instincts.
Here, in our in-depth study, we try to explain how much Decision to Leave respond to the romantic canons of the storm and stress, bringing together sentiment and rationality, the irrational with classicism. We notice it in the directorial approach, which in fact explodes in the finale, and we notice it strongly in its false narrative linearity. What does it mean? That Decision to Leavelike the same obsessions of the protagonists, is only apparently readable: after the first hour (there are two abundant hours) we realize how much a puzzle it is that plays on editing, on erotic tension (never explicit, only suggested by the trembling of the hands, often in the center of the image) and on the temporal pauses that make everything more poetic and deliberately unresolved. The feeling is that it is the same obsession that seduces us, leading us to reflect on what love and despair could mean.
The consequences of love
A thin line, crossed by the protagonist, the homicide detective Hae-jun (Park Hae-il) who, married, racks his brain to understand what Seo-rae (Tang Wei), a charming and mysterious Chinese immigrant, is really hiding. killed her husband. He follows her, the pawn, the spy. Submissively, he enters her life, facing the nightmares of a betrayal that is never fully consummated yet stronger than any sexual transgression. Because Hae-jun, frustrated with sleepless nights and open cases, gets totally broken by Seo-rae. He jams, pushes beyond known territory, ending up in a Chinese box.
The moral compass (after all it is a policeman) loses the north and ends up taking part in an RPG in which every detail is weighed to be vital in the economy of the story. But Park Chan-Wook does more: the (initial) search for justice conflicts with romantic interests, altering Hae-jun’s passive and human balance. A situation that develops by mentioning Alfred Hitchcock, Brian de Palma and, think about it, the masterpiece Obsession (coincidentally) by Luchino Visconti, with the amorous elements developed in a fleeting way, holding back the passionate impulses or the visual exaggerations. Now that we think about it, they are the same echoes de The Consequences of Love by Paolo Sorrentino: be careful what you wish for, you could dangerously get it.
Park Chan-wook’s women: from Lady Vendetta to Decision to Leave
Side effects
A no less powerful and authentic subtraction, which enhances the languid love story between Hae-jun and Seo-rae. Both, and consequently we spectators too (surprised, uneasy, frustrated, involved), choose to play according to the rules of the genre, accepting the consequences of their actions which, inevitably, will exceed the conceived limit. Chewed up by love and a burning obsession, similar to the incessant shaking of a smartphone.
But Decision to Leave, presented at Cannes 2022 (where it won the Staging Award) and unjustly ignored by the Oscars 2023, slowly creeps into the most intimate recesses, snubbing words and placing itself in the middle of two (probably?) twin souls. And the point is this: Park Chan-wook’s amphibious language shows the benefits of obsession in relation to one’s (un)desired effects, equating obsessiveness, possessiveness and love itself. A cinematic addition with an extreme and revealing impact: by reversing the order of the addends, the result does not change.
Decision to Leave, the review: love is a thriller
