Past Lives

UK Release Date. 8 September 2023
Certification. 12A
Running Time. 1 hour 45 mins
Director. Celine Song
Cast. Greta Lee, John Magaro, Teo Yoo.
Rating. 77%

Review.

Cinema is populated with a myriad of films that have charted the bittersweet agony of perfect connections that can't be sustained or the torment of having met one's soulmate at an inopportune time. Take your pick of Brief Encounter or Brooklyn. Max Ophüls' Letter From An Unknown Woman or Woody Allen's Annie Hall. In The Mood For Love or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Celine Song's debut feature, Past Lives, a tale of two lives intertwined, is every bit as accomplished as these aforementioned films.

Past Lives is a story of childhood crushes and lost love. At age 12, Na Young (the young Na Young is played by Moon Seung-ah) and her family leave Seoul for Canada, and she leaves behind her first love, Hae Sung, (the young Hae Sung is played by Leem Seung-min), only to reconnect with him 12 years later through the internet. A further 12 years later they are reunited for one fateful week where they must confront the notion of destiny - the roads not taken, the lives not led and the futile luxury of regret. Inadvertent gazes are met and held for uncomfortably long periods of time, and uncomfortable conversations are had. But the story never descends into predictable melodrama; the renamed Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) are simply trying to deal with the reality of still having feelings for each other. 

Greta Lee produces a wonderful performance as the adult Nora, and is ably supported by her two male counterparts. Potentially perceived as cold, or even narcissistic, Lee complicates such concepts, allowing us to appreciate a driven woman, who simply doesn't fit the romantic mould.

There is an assured confidence in how the film is shot. The lo-fi intensity of Past Lives immediately draws obvious comparisons with Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise trilogy. But with considerably less dialogue, the film is given time to breathe, allowing the aching humanity to shine through. There's no cheap, unrealistic writing here. Every character is a well-adjusted, functioning adult who's learned to deal with their feelings in a mature manner. 

Beautiful, delicate and sophisticated. Hauntingly tender, the film is both heart-melting and heart-wrenching in equal measure. As clichéd as it may sound, Past Lives is more than the sum of its parts.