When they were twelve, Hae-sung and Na-young fell in love.
When they turned twenty, they drifted apart.
In their thirties, they found each other again through Facebook. Deep down, they still love each other in some ways, and in a traditional film, this would be their happy ending. A reunion destined to happen.
But that’s not how life works.
Celine Song’s beautiful and intimate Past Lives is a story about love and connection. How in our connected world can reach out to the past thanks to technology, only to realize it’s as ephemeral and elusive as our memories. It delicately handles the reality of missed opportunities, paths not taken, and how, sometimes, love can exist without ever fully blossoming.
Superbly acted by Greta Lee and Teo Yoo, Past Lives doesn’t ask us to take sides. There are no sides to take. Nobody is the villain here, and there is no mountain to conquer. When Hae-sung and Na-young drifted apart, their story became two separate ones. Their meeting again is another shared chapter, but it doesn’t mean anything else.
It’s a bittersweet pill, one that’s all too familiar to anyone who has loved, or had a crush on, someone. The older we get, the more we’re plagued by the what-if’s of our lives. Lee’s film exists in that intersection of memory and dreams, never judging, nor handing out easy answers. Hers is an immaculate portrait of how these things work in real life.
There’s not much in the way of traditional plot in Past Lives, and it doesn’t need it. Its leisurely pace allows us to reflect on our own choices and mistakes in the way of the best Italian neo-realists. More than once I thought of Umbrellas of Cherbourg, where destined love is a concept not afforded to normal people.
Past Lives is a film that leaves you breathless, and your heart aching, but in a good way. There’s something deeply comforting about knowing these feelings are universal. That they’re not the end, and, sometimes, it’s an act of ultimate grace to finally let go.
After all, memory is unreliable, feelings are forever.