Possible Love is the first feature in eight years from writer-director Lee Chang-dong, who returns with a class-conscious drama inspired by real labor unrest and anchored by four standout performances.
Lee, whose previous film was the psychological thriller Burning, has long been regarded as a filmmaker of uncommon consistency. Possible Love, he has said, grew out of a 2009 incident in which a Korean car plant dismissed about one-third of its employees. A strike organized by the metal workers’ union was violently suppressed by police, and several workers later died by suicide.
Co-written with Oh Jung-mi, Possible Love follows a married couple living two years after a similar upheaval in their industrial town. Sul Kyung-gu plays Ho-seok, a welder laid off during a sweeping restructuring. Though he has found another metalworking job, the trauma of losing steady work lingers, and he has turned to alcohol. His wife, Mi-ok, portrayed by Jeon Do-yeon, is employed at a face mask manufacturer. She is portrayed as the household’s steady center, caring for their young son while navigating her husband’s struggles.
Early in the story they encounter Ye-ji, an aspiring filmmaker working on a documentary about the layoffs. She invites both spouses to participate, but only Mi-ok agrees to be interviewed. On camera, Mi-ok shares painful memories of her childhood, including a mother who felt ashamed of their working-class background, as well as the exhilarating day she first met Ho-seok as a teenager. Ye-ji also discloses pieces of her own life, notably her marriage to a wealthy hedge fund investor. Despite a growing rapport between the two women, the film maintains a clear sense of the class, wealth, and power divide shaping their relationship. Ye-ji’s benevolence appears genuine, but it is contingent on Mi-ok’s continued involvement in the project.
At points, Possible Love reads as an inquiry into documentary ethics. While Ye-ji’s practices invite scrutiny, Lee places himself under the same lens. His gently handheld images sometimes merge with Ye-ji’s footage, blurring perspective and underlining how both fictional and nonfictional narratives can shape reality. The film arrives the same month its distributor, Netflix, cut 6% of its global staff, a context that underscores its themes of labor and power.
Some of the most affecting passages have a nonfiction immediacy, notably group counseling sessions for laid-off workers and their partners. Participants recall the strike’s early days and the brief surge of solidarity before the crackdown. Lee, whose Oasis and Peppermint Candy often centered misfits and outsiders, here examines a different estrangement, born from the fracturing of a once cohesive community.
Since its early fall festival bow, Possible Love has drawn comparisons to Parasite, another Korean drama concerned with class and two families’ intersecting lives. Cho Yeo-jeong, who portrayed the affluent wife in Parasite, is similarly compelling as Ye-ji, a wealthy spouse here. Yet the films diverge in tone and method. Where Parasite built a propulsive Hitchcockian engine, Possible Love favors a novelistic patience and nuanced character study, anchored by four remarkable turns.
Zo In-sung, as Ye-ji’s husband, balances charm with condescension so deftly he is nearly unrecognizable from his recent rugged role in Hope. The leads, Sul and Jeon, both frequent collaborators with Lee, deliver some of their finest work. Sul’s Ho-seok is a quietly implosive presence, revealing new facets through the final scenes. Jeon’s Mi-ok emerges as one of the year’s most layered screen creations, resilient and mischievous even as she faces mounting pressures. Her affectionate, exasperated chiding of Ho-seok conveys the couple’s deep bond. The question posed by the title, Possible Love, is whether love can endure through hardship. In Lee’s tender, unsparing view, Ho-seok and Mi-ok answer yes.
Possible Love release details
Possible Love opens in select theaters on Friday, then begins streaming on Netflix on Nov. 6. The cast includes Sul Kyung-gu as Ho-seok, Jeon Do-yeon as Mi-ok, Cho Yeo-jeong as Ye-ji, and Zo In-sung as Ye-ji’s husband.
At a moment when nonfiction cinema is grappling with questions of power between subjects and filmmakers, Lee’s film sits comfortably alongside recent work like You Can See Everything, even as it remains firmly rooted in fiction.