Lee Chang-dong’s ‘Possible Love’ Premieres at Venice

Lee Chang-dong has returned with Possible Love, his first feature in eight years. The South Korean drama premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival on September 6 and arrives with another major distinction: it is South Korea’s entry in the international feature Oscar race.

Built around two married couples on opposite sides of an economic divide, the film brings Lee back to the social tensions and intimate moral choices that have defined much of his work. Jeon Do-yeon plays Mi-ok, a factory worker whose husband Ho-seok, played by Sul Kyung-gu, has lost his job after a long and unsuccessful strike.

Two households collide across a class divide

Mi-ok and Ho-seok meet Ye-ji, an affluent aspiring filmmaker played by Cho Yeo-jeong. Ye-ji is making a documentary about workers affected by corporate downsizing and wants Ho-seok to speak on camera, although he resists. An invitation to the filmmaker’s seaside home then brings the two couples into closer contact.

The setup lets the story examine work, shame, desire and the appeal of another person’s life without reducing either household to a simple symbol. Variety described the movie as a relationship drama whose emotional surprises emerge from close observation, while Deadline emphasized the lasting social wound behind the strike.

According to Deadline, the project’s origins reach back to a major 2009 layoff and the harsh suppression of the resulting workers’ protest in South Korea. That history gives the personal story a concrete economic foundation: a lost job changes not only income, but confidence, marriage and the way each character sees the choices available to them.

Lee connects a new drama to a wider film project

Possible Love carries a dedication to Krzysztof Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz’s Dekalog: Ten. It is also part of a planned ten-film project in which different filmmakers respond to the landmark Polish television cycle.

The film runs close to three hours and features a cast of established South Korean performers. After Venice, its next path is already set: a two-week U.S. theatrical run will precede a November 6 debut on Netflix, giving Lee’s long-awaited return both an awards-season launch and broad streaming access.