'Past Lives' Is A Beautiful Rendition of Time and Longing
In-Yun, a Korean proverb, says as long as two people connect, even if it's two total strangers brushing their clothes when crossing the street, they’ve been together in some other life. The relation Nora (Greta Lee) has to her childhood flame Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), transcends time. The movie is minuscule but feels large as it cuts between years and locations. The story starts twenty years ago, then transitions to twelve years later, then finally to modern day.
Despite all that time, Nora and Hae Sung never forgot each other. In some other life, the two have hooked up, gotten married, and lived in New York. At least in my mind they did. Sadly, Nora and Hae Sung can't be a couple in this life, yet they want to be. Nora is a married woman. She lives as a writer with her husband, who's an author. Their life is content. To break from it would destroy everything.
The subtlety is sublime. When Nora and Hae Sung meet again for the first time in twenty years, the camera stays in one shot focusing on each subject as they talk. From one pan to another, without breaking the cut, cinematographer Shabier Kirchner and director Celine Song paint an image of a couple who are distant yet incredibly close. They can't break away from each other, so the shot lingers, making us feel every range of emotions. We feel the awkwardness of seeing one another face to face after two decades. Then the absolute closeness when Nora embraces Hae Sung.
A motif later is incorporated when Nora, her husband Arthur (John Magaro), and Hae Sung sit at a bar together. There's a single two-shot placed on Nora and Hae Sung while Arthur is out of the frame with a large amount of headroom in the shot, illustrating the distance and closeness the two feel from each other. The conversation begins on a light note, but when it becomes serious, it cuts on its subjects with the headroom adjusted and the frame focussed on them individually, drawing us closer to them.
What begins at the bar is an observation. Nora introduces the first scene of the picture as a narrator speaking over an image of her, Arthur, and Hae Sung conversing at the bar. She makes an inspection asking who these two people are speaking to each other. Are they a couple? Who's that white guy? Is he the husband? We have these sorts of observations every day when sitting at a local bar or restaurant. We can’t help but be intrusively curious. It's a clever way of introducing the film's tone. Don't expect drama. Expect something more down to earth.
Nora emigrated with her family to New York while Hae Sung stayed in Korea. As the lives of Nora and Hae Sung drew apart, they never forgot about one another. Thanks to the magic of social media, Hae Sung and Nora meet up on Facebook, then have multiple Skype conversations. As an audience, we think the two will hook up, and the red curtains will close on them holding hands. But the couple can't meet for a while because Hae Sung has business in Korea to attend to, which will keep him away from communication for a long time. When the two can meet up again, Nora has already gotten married.
Where most movies about a romantic triangle would result in big dramatics or laughs, Past Lives roots its presentation in realism. There's no big scene where the husband confrontationally asks, "Do you love him?" Instead, the husband jests with his wife, "in the story, I would be the evil white American husband standing in the way of destiny." Perhaps the husband could conjure up a clever line like that as a writer. The beauty in Past Lives is its profoundly soft nature. Nobody is in confronting one another. They're polite, they understand each other and help one another.
When Arthur does confront Nora about her attraction to Hae Sung, he does so out of empathy, aware that there is something between them but nothing they'll act upon. It's a first flame, yet it's always that first lame that burns so brightly. We never forget our first love. Whether it be when we were children or teenagers, this film encapsulates that yearning.
Past Lives is a loving, sensible portrayal of lost love, time, and how we move on with our lives. When the credits roll and everyone says goodbye, you might have a tear in your eye. It's a story about letting go when we don't want to yet have to. Letting go is hard but necessary, or else we never move on. Director Celine Song presents an exceptional moving debut that's the best picture so far this year.
