Decision to Leave: Modern Sensualism
Park Chan-Wook’s Decision to Leave continues the director’s infatuation with the human psyche but through a genre-blending modernized noir that uses interactions through digital devices to explore desire and duality.
Busan’s youngest police inspector, Hae-joon, is enlisted in the case of a man who plummeted to his death. What sounds like a simple suicide is drawn out by Hae-joon’s intrigue about the dead man’s widow, Seo-rae. Her reaction to her husband’s death causes Hae-joon to raise suspicion and sentiment for the caregiver. To figure out the details of what happened, Hae-joon must understand his suspect while also holding off on his impulses to break from his monogamous relationship with his wife and professional obligations. As the investigation continues so does their romance and the two storylines blend into one.
Communication between Hae-joon and Seo-rae is through gazes, smiles, and gestures. They both have strong feelings that are not communicated verbally and they must find their language to communicate their passions. The plot moves stealthily move along with a mesmerizing aesthetic that makes its big reveal shocking. Chan-Wook seductively plays with the experience of getting to know someone through their mind. Our two main characters never share a bed but they can be vulnerable with one another which brings intimacy.
Park Chan-Wook is a master at precision in his films. It feels like every decision made about the moments between the two forbidden lovers has a deeper meaning that the audience’s eyes pick up on. The dizzying details require every ounce of attention. Filming the two at a distance through mirrors, glass, computer monitors, and lenses to divide them and leave a linger of closeness. Chan-Wook never really allows them to come together or say what they feel and that makes the film even sexier. It is their movements that signal the intense feelings they have for one another. The more information Hae-joon learns about Seo-rae, the farther they come apart as he realizes there is more to unwrap about the mysterious woman. The best erotic thrillers work because of how they take something as simple as connection and turn it into obsession and desire and Chan-Wook masters that perfectly throughout the entire film.
Park Chan-Wook redefines a noir thriller by changing the expectations of its two leads. Hae-joon as the cop is an insomniac who has photos of his unresolved cases on his walls like it's a gallery. To be happy he needs murder and violence in his wife. Seo-rae takes on the title of femme fatale but she is just a caretaker who binges soap operas and eats pints of ice cream for dinner. Both the audience and characters believe each other are archetypal at first glance but as the bond develops between the two, the archetypes melt away. Like a cat and mouse, the police and suspect guess what each other’s next move will be and it is thrilling. The point of the film is not whether Seo-rae committed murder, it is using her crimes to tell a story of restraint and desire between two people that can’t be together.
While the film feels very classic, it embraces technology in its story to reflect the everyday life of modern love. A frequent form of communication between the two is voice memos and translation apps. The translation app adds to the disconnect between the two. Technology is seen as cold and robot in comparison with the raging emotion in their words exchanged with one another. Technology is infused in the film’s aesthetic through using POV shots from the perspective of inside a phone. It mirrors how when people look at their phones it is as if they looking at the person on the other side of the digital conversation. Whenever Hae-joon is talking to her on the phone or making his voice notes, the inventive cinematography places him beside her as if he is conversing with or observing her in person. Their imaginations visualize how these conversations would be spoken in person. When Hae-joon is listening to his voice recording and the phone screen flashes back to a reflection of him saying those lines in an earlier sequence. Through smartphones Park is showing how they can create distance while achieving their purpose of bringing people together.
Park Chan-Wook has successfully modernized the erotic thriller genre. Decision to Leave is essentially a love story wrapped up in a murder mystery, but its focus on the risks of unresolved love is where it gets deep. From the score to the imagery, this film is full of romance even while dealing with the subject of murder. It asks the question of how much would you be willing to ruin yourself for someone you barely know. This film requires multiple watches to pick up on its convoluted and playful nature. Every frame must be reanalyzed and these are two of the best performances of the 2020s. By indulging in this pleasure, a climax is reached.
A sequence of Hae-joon and Seo-rae eating a premium sushi dinner in an investigation room and then cleaning it up as they have done it together all their lives might be the sexiest scene of the