Lee Chang-dong’s drama brings two unequal couples together through a documentary about laid-off workers. Following its Venice Grand Jury Prize win, it reached select cinemas on October 23 ahead of a November 6 Netflix release.
Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love reached select cinemas on October 23 with assessments from the Guardian, The Hollywood Reporter and IndieWire highlighting how its documentary-within-a-film structure connects financial power with intimate relationships. The drama previously won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.
The story follows laid-off factory worker Ho-seok and his wife Mi-ok, played by Jeon Do-yeon. Wealthy filmmaker Ye-ji is documenting workers’ experiences after a strike. When Mi-ok agrees to tell the family’s story on camera, the two couples become entangled: Ye-ji and her financier husband Sang-woo offer access to a life far removed from the workers’ financial struggles.
Analysis
In its October 23 interview with Lee, the Guardian praises the film’s layered construction: a story about labour and capital sits inside an examination of filmmaking ethics. Lee said the idea grew from the 2009 Ssangyong Motors strike in South Korea, when workers occupied a factory for 77 days over proposed layoffs. Co-writer Oh Jung-mi suggested adding a documentary filmmaker, allowing the script to explore Lee’s own uncertainty about how to depict workers’ suffering.
IndieWire’s review, first published at Venice on September 6 and republished on October 21, gives that device a sharper critical reading. It describes Ye-ji’s filming as intrusive and condescending, even when her aim is to make workers’ lives visible. A recurring scene reveals her camera watching an intimate moment; a visit to the wealthy couple’s holiday house gives her still more access to her subjects.
Lee’s explanation to the Guardian puts the imbalance plainly: holding a camera gives the filmmaker power, making equality with the person being filmed difficult. He said he feels close to Ye-ji rather than simply treating her as a target of criticism.
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Analysis
IndieWire also cautions against reading Mi-ok’s attraction to expensive clothes, or to Sang-woo, simply as envy of wealth. Its assessment finds a more complicated relationship between desire, resentment and inequality. The review argues that moments of closeness between the couples do not erase their unequal power.
The Hollywood Reporter’s October 23 assessment centres on how Jeon makes those contradictions visible. It calls her choices humane and unusual, describing a buoyant, curious performance whose expressions resist a single reading. For the publication, Mi-ok’s most joyful moments are also her most heartbreaking. Jeon explained in the accompanying interview that the character’s positive self-expression is a way of maintaining her life.
IndieWire gives Jeon similarly strong praise, arguing that she takes command in the final section as the film’s questions about freedom and power become more physical. Its emphasis is on self-preservation rather than a simple wish to trade places with the rich.
Netflix funded the film after Lee struggled to secure domestic financing. Following the select-cinema release, the film is scheduled to begin streaming on Netflix on November 6.
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