‘Decision To Leave’ Filmmaker Park Chan-wook Knows Somethin’ About Love, Especially When It’s Between A Cop & Suspect – Cannes

Anthony D'Alessandro
·2 min read
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While Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden dealt with a lot of sex and kink in its story of a handmaiden who gets into the good graces of her Japanese heiress, only to defraud her, the Korean filmmaker in his latest Decision to Leave, dotes on a detective Hae-Joon (Park Hae-il) who is head over heels with a very possible murder suspect, Seo-rae (Tang Wei).

Ya see, it looks like she threw her husband off a mountain.

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And love being the motif between the two pics, Chan-wook was called to the carpet by the global press today at the Cannes Film Festival to field, “What is love for you?”

The refreshing query came in the wake of an immediate press conference for Crimes of the Future in which David Cronenberg slammed U.S. conservative tendencies, in particular Roe vs. Wade.

“My life isn’t part of my work,” answered the director, “Some directors talk about their own life. I don’t make films in that manner.”

“Love is a relationship between two people, and people show how they are through love,” said the director talking about the connections between his characters.

“The human species, the specific nature of the human being, really come through when there is love,” he adds.

Continuing to talk about amour in Decision to Leave, the pic’s co-scribe Seo-kyeong Jeong, explained, “The detective loves his work. When he’s investigating the crime scene, it’s as though he’s reading a love letter when he’s on the crime scene. He sees Seo-rae, and it’s a kind of love. It’s a paramount importance for both the characters.”

Expounding on the relationship between cop and suspect, Chan-wok explained, “Sometimes it’s the suspect who asks the questions….the way they exchange looks, eat together, and clean the table. He gives her a toothbrush. It’s all a part of the character; the policeman who is very kind. Sometimes he spies on the suspect. He spies on her because he’s a policeman.”

“It’s kind of harassment,” said the filmmaker, “instead of being spied upon, she feels very protected.”

Decision to Leave was scooped up, as Deadline told you, by Mubi in North America, the UK, Ireland, Turkey, and India before Cannes.

The movie premiered yesterday. Nine review on Rotten Tomatoes have the Oldboy filmmaker’s latest at 100% fresh.

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