Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love examines class and documentary ethics

Lee Chang-dong’s first feature since Burning takes inspiration from the 2009 mass layoffs at South Korea’s Ssangyong Motor. The company dismissed roughly a third of its workforce, prompting a lengthy occupation of its plant and clashes between workers and police. Suicides among former employees and their relatives followed the restructuring, an event Lee saw as a turning point for Korean society and work.

The film follows Mi-ok, played by Jeon Do-yeon, and her husband Ho-seok, played by Sul Kyung-gu. Ho-seok, an autoworker who lost his job, is struggling with depression. Mi-ok welcomes Ye-ji, a prosperous documentary director, who wants to film the couple and tell the story of laid-off workers. Ye-ji’s husband, Sang-woo, is a wealthy businessman, and Mi-ok is drawn to his apparent warmth and generosity.

Lee links the workers’ story to the filmmaker’s attempt to document it. Mi-ok hopes the project might help her husband, but the relationship with Ye-ji is complicated by the camera and the couple’s very different circumstances. At one point, Ye-ji records Mi-ok in distress while keeping her distance, raising questions about whether the filmmaker’s apparent closeness is genuine or serves the film.

Lee has said he considered whether a fictional drama was the right way to tell a story rooted in real labor struggles. The idea of connecting it to a filmmaker wrestling with how to capture those lives helped the project take shape. He also uses the two husbands to explore contrasting forms of masculinity: Ho-seok’s identity is bound up with providing for his family and solidarity with coworkers, while Sang-woo appears gentle and attentive, though Lee describes a hidden force beneath that manner.

Possible Love won the runner-up prize at the Venice Film Festival, and South Korea selected it as its submission for the international feature category at the 99th Academy Awards.