2.1. The Movie - Story
The film ‘Decision to Leave’, directed by Chanwook Park, won the Best Director award at the 75th Cannes Film Festival in 2022. ‘Decision to Leave’ deeply explores the themes of suspicion and love between a female suspect and a male detective. The female lead character is portrayed as someone who immigrated from China and is suspected of assisting in her mother’s euthanasia, which raises doubts about her innocence. On the other hand, the detective suffers from insomnia but is renowned for his meticulous investigative skills. The film weaves a suspenseful and intimate love story between these two characters as their journey unfolds from the mountain to the sea, spanning two different settings: the urban city of Pusan and the rural seaside village of Leepho.
In the film, the story unfolds as follows:
In the city of Pusan, often referred to as Korea’s second city, Detective Jang investigates the case of a man named Kee who fell to his death at a place called Guso Mountain’s Bigum Rock. During his investigation, Detective Jang summons Song, Kee’s Chinese wife, who is not fluent in Korean, to the police station for questioning. Detective Jang inexplicably develops a strange fondness for Song. He orders premium sushi lunch boxes from Shimasushi to eat while continuing his investigation.
As the investigation progresses, it is revealed that Kee had subjected his wife, Song, to violence, including leaving his initials as tattoos on her private parts. This revelation leads to suspicions that Song might be the murderer of her husband.
Detective Jang continues to monitor Song, who works as a helper for elderly grandmothers in the neighborhood. He observes her visiting various elderly people on different days, taking care of them. He notices her solitary evening meals, where she enjoys ice cream, practices the Korean language by watching historical dramas on TV, and gradually becomes more and more fascinated by her.
As the story unfolds, an anonymous letter surfaces, implicating Kee in a bribery case. It makes the case closed as a suicide, and Song is no longer considered a suspect. Instead, Detective Jang’s relationship with Song deepens. Jang cook a hot stir-fried rice dish for Song, and she, in return, teaches him breathing techniques and guided imagery to help him cope with his insomnia, eventually helping him fall asleep.
On a rainy morning, Song and Jang take a stroll near a temple. Their mutual fondness for each other continues to grow. However, when Jang visits an elderly lady’s house on a Monday instead of Song, who needed to attend a funeral, he stumbles upon a health app on her smartphone that records stair-climbing data. This data shows that she had climbed 138 flights of stairs. This discovery prompts Jang to reevaluate the case.
In a pivotal scene, it is revealed that Song, in fact, disguised herself as if she were visiting the elderly lady’s house on a Monday. She had secretly climbed to the summit of the mountain, where her husband, Kee, was located. Song ambushed him and pushed him off the cliff, leading to his fatal fall. Detective Jang later realizes the truth but decides to keep the case closed.
A powerful dialogue occurs during this scene, (all dialogue is quoted from the movie script) :
(Song, to Jang, who is questioning the incident at the cliff)
(Song) Please don’t talk about our situation like that.
(Jang) Our situation, what is it? Is it me lingering near your house every night? Listening to your every breath as you sleep soundly? Whispering to you, holding you close, making you happy?
That’s dignity, right? Do you know where dignity comes from? It’s my pride. I was a proud police officer. But I ruined the investigation because of my obsession with you. I’ve completely collapsed.
I gave your grandmother a new phone, the same model, and she has no idea. Throw the old phone into the sea.
Sink it deep so no one can find it.
(After Jang leaves, Song enters ‘collapse’ into her smartphone dictionary. The definition reads ‘fall apart and break.’ The scene fades out with Song’s expression reflecting her own collapse.)
In a later part of the story, Detective Jang, now living in the quiet coastal village of Leepho with his wife Ann, encounters the remarried Song couple by chance. A few days later, the body of Song’s husband, Lim, is discovered, and Jang becomes suspicious of Song as the possible murderer. However, it is revealed that Sha, a scam artist who lost all of his assets by Lim, is the actual culprit.
But as the investigation unfolds, it becomes evident that Song was involved in euthanizing Sha’s mother. Jang realizes that Song had set up a scheme to implicate Lim in the murder in order to protect Jang. In a phone conversation between Jang and Song:
(Referring to an audio file Song stored)
(Jang) You have that file too, don’t you? Tell me, what’s in it?
(Song) Your voice, confessing your love to me.
(Jang) Me?
(Song) I was so happy about it. But Lim found out.
(Jang) When did I ever say I love you?
(Song, in Chinese) The moment you said you loved me, your love ended, and my love began. Get rid of Lim’s phone. Throw it into the deep sea.
(Jang) When did I ever tell you I love you?
(The call ends, and Jang plays the recorded audio file from Song’s smartwatch)
(Song, only voice) Please don’t talk about our situation like that.
(Jang, voice) Our situation, what is it? Is it me lingering near your house every night? Listening to your every breath as you sleep soundly? Whispering to you, holding you close, making you happy? I’ve completely collapsed. Throw the old phone into the sea. Sink it deep so no one can find it.
In this scene Detective Jang, realizing that these words were actually a confession of love, hurriedly searches for Song. However, he arrives at the beach only to find Song digging a hole, soon to be engulfed by the encroaching tide. The scene is set against the backdrop of an old Korean pop song, ‘Fog’, which was popular in the 1970s. The lyrics of the song go like this:
Walking alone on this foggy, densely shrouded street
Somewhere, there’s only one shadow of your once tender figure
When I think, there’s nothing but passing memories
Yet my heart still aches with longing
Where could that person have gone?
Lonely, endlessly, in the midst of the fog
When I turn around, a faint voice blocks my way
Oh, wind, walk through this fog
Where could that person have gone?
Open your eyes in the midst of the fog, hide your tears
The famous Korean folk song ‘Fog,’ heard from the front sea of the coastal village of Leepho, known for its fog, poignantly illustrates the image of a woman endlessly walking in search of the ’shadow of her once tender figure,’ a central motif of the film. However, the woman in ‘Fog’ is also an active agent, asking the wind to clear the fog and commanding herself to open her eyes and hide her tears.
This active female subject is symbolically embodied in the character of Song in the film [
15]. As the detective collapses, she interprets his desperate words, initially meant to discard evidence, as a ’love confession.’ To become the eternal unresolved case of his love after their relationship collapses, Song voluntarily immerses herself in a pit on the beach to die.
2.2. The Movies - Critics
The film ’Decision to Leave’ weaves a complex narrative that begins with a murder in the mountain and ends in suicide by the sea. It explores how suspicion can transform into love, how betrayed love can trigger another, all through a rich tapestry of imagery and symbolism.
The name ’Pu-San’ where the crime in the mountain occurs is derived from Korean phonetics, with ’San’ meaning ’Mountain.’ Similarly, the coastal village of ’Lee-Pho’ gets its name from ’Pho,’ which means ’Port’ in Korean. Thus, the film unfolds as a story that transitions its backdrop from ’Mountain’ Pu to ’Port’ Lee [
16].
During their visit to Mountain Homi to scatter Song’s mother’s ashes, Song hands over Monday Grandma’s phone, which is evidence from the case in Pusan, and says:
(Song) Use this to reopen the case. Go back before the ’collapse.’ It seems like I came to Leepho because I want to become your unresolved case. Put my picture on the wall, to make you awake, and only think about me.
In the scene at Mountain Homi, where the circumstances surrounding Sha’s mother’s euthanasia and the murder plot involving Lim are revealed, Song confesses her desire to become Jang’s unresolved case. This moment signifies her willingness to become the eternal mystery in Jang’s life, even if it means an obsession that keeps him up at night. She fulfills this desire by taking her own life by the sea in Leepho. Therefore, this movie can be seen as a story that transitions from a murder in the mountain, leading to suspicion and infatuation, and ultimately ending with a collapse of emotions as Song takes her life by the sea.
The imagery of mountain-sea, fall-murder, and pit-suicide is creatively varied throughout the movie. Song’s apartment interior wallpaper features an overlapping image of mountains and the sea (see
Figure 1), and the dress she wears during her encounters with her second husband Lim and in Leepho is turquoise that’s consisted of blue and green (see
Figure 2). In Korea, mountains are often represented as green and the sea as blue in color. Therefore, Song incorporates this complex mountain-sea imagery into her home and clothing choices [
17].
The image of being submerged in the sea in a pit as the waves roll in is also expressed through Jang. In a scene where Song, while trying to help Jang, who suffers from insomnia, get some sleep, she says the following:
(Song) Close your eyes.
(Song gently covers Jang’s eyes with her hand, and Jang smiles.)
Listen to my breathing, synchronize your breath with mine.
(Song leans closer to Jang, both closing their eyes.)
(Jang listens to Song’s breathing. At some point, their breathing rhythms sync perfectly.)
(Song) Let’s go to the sea. Dive into the water. Descend. Keep descending.
You’re a jellyfish. No eyes, no nose, no thoughts.
(Song, in Chinese) Neither happy nor sad. No emotions.
Push away everything that happened today in the water, to me.
I’ll take it all, and now you have nothing left.
(Song opens her eyes. Jang’s face is right in front of her, and he’s already asleep.)
The image of a jellyfish descending deep into the sea, synchronized with Song’s breathing as Jang falls asleep, serves as a symbolic representation in the movie. In this scene, the sea and the jellyfish symbolize Jang’s descent and entry into a state of sleep [
18]. This imagery aligns with Song’s journey from the mountain, falling, and then digging a pit before being submerged in the water and ultimately succumbing, reflecting the overall narrative of the movie where Jang and Song’s story flows and descends like water from the mountain to the sea.
The overall flow of the movie is symbolically represented in the design of the movie script’s cover and the movie poster. The cover of the script features a page from the ‘Book of Mountain & Sea’, which is being transcribed in a scene from the film (
Figure 3). The ‘Book of Mountain & Sea’ is a mythical collection from ancient China that includes various natural landscapes and bizarre creatures that inhabit them [
19]. The cover of the script shows a flowing stream of water descending like a waterfall from the mountain, and along this stream, Korean text is visible. Here is a partial quote from the content:
Once you go east for 250 li (a Chinese unit of distance), you will find Mount Gireum. The peaks of this mountain are deeply hidden, and to those who do not wish to see them, they remain invisible. Worms living here are as long as a hundred-year-old pine tree, and with something sticky comeing out from their bodies, it doesn’t slip, allowing them to climb the mountain. Their white bodies, folded a thousand times, make it hard to distinguish front from back, but when they extend their long mouths, people decide which way to run. When the worm meets a person, it wraps itself around with its long body, pierces with its mouth, and sucks blood and bones, so one must avoid it at all costs. Once the worm falls and dies, a swarm of twenty thousand golden flies rises from its burst head and finally scatters into the world.
If you travel three hundred li to the south, you’ll find Homi Mountain. This mountain, when unseen by people, can walk but if someone notices it, it freezes in place, becoming an ordinary mountain. This mountain is exceptionally quiet, and you can even hear the sound of trees growing. Yet, if a person ventures into the midst of these trees, they vanish and never return. At the mountain’s peak, there is a small rock covered in white clay. This rock, flat like a go stone, appears irregular from a distance. When adorned with cinnabar, it emits a brilliant light, piercing the eyes. There is also a peculiar tree known as ‘Baeggu’. Its inner bark is crimson, and its appearance resembles rice or millet when it blossoms. The sap from this tree is as sweet as barley malt, akin to barley syrup.
‘Mount Gireum’ represents the location where the gruesome murder occurs, and it’s associated with the name ‘Kee’ who has fallen and died. Similarly, ‘Homi Mountain’ is depicted as the mountain where Song and Jang scatter Song’s mother’s remains. These adaptations from the original text provide symbolic connections to the film’s plot and characters.
The portrayal of the parasitic creature falling and giving rise to a swarm of flies is metaphorically linked to Kee’s fall and the aftermath of his death, particularly the scene where his body is left to decompose. This demonstrates how the film creatively draws from traditional symbolism to enhance its storytelling.
The description of Homi Mountain in the film can indeed be interpreted as symbolizing Song’s belatedly blossoming love. The quiet mountain with the sound of trees growing and the notion that one cannot return once they enter among these trees may metaphorically represent Song’s love, which began late after Detective Jang’s breakdown [
20].
As the love between Song and Jang develops amid the serene backdrop of their relationship, it mirrors the idea of the sound of trees growing. However, as Song enters into this fully bloomed love, she disappears, signifying her departure through her act of suicide by the sea in Leepho.
The narrative of descending from the mountains to the sea and the love story that unfolds along the way is well-reflected in the film’s posters, with two prominent examples shown in
Figure 4. In the poster featuring Detective Jang, the background is a mountainous landscape, while in the poster featuring the Chinese wife, Song, the background is the sea. This effectively encapsulates the film’s structure, where Detective Jang investigates a murder in the mountains and falls in love, and Song completes this love story by ending her life in the sea. These posters provide a visual representation of the film’s thematic progression and characters [
21].
The town of Leepho, famous for its fog, is depicted with various events and elements in the story. In Leepho, there is a nuclear power plant where Detective Jang’s wife, Ann, works. Safety must be the top priority at a nuclear power plant. Detective Jang’s wife’s full name is ‘Jeong-Ann Ann,’ which, in the Korean naming convention where the family name comes first, can be transliterated as ‘Ann Jeong Ann’. In Korean, the phonetic sound ‘Ann Jeong’ means ‘Stable’ in English. Both ‘Ann Jeong’ when read from left to right and when read from right to left represent ‘Stable.’ This highlights that Detective Jang’s wife is a stable individual working in a place known for safety. However, one might also consider that nuclear power plants, as safe as they are designed to be, can carry a certain level of risk [
22].
The dense fog that Detective Jang has to pass through every time he commutes from Pusan to Leepho can symbolize the safety and danger of the Leepho nuclear power plant, where his wife, Ann, works. While driving through the fog, Jang sometimes blinks and barely makes it to Leepho, highlighting the precarious nature of the journey. The fog can provide a comforting feeling of being warmly enveloped, akin to a sense of safety, but it is actually symbolic of danger. Moreover, since the region experiences heavy fog, the humidity is high in Leepho, making it known for mold issues. Jang’s observation of mold growing in the corner of the wall while having an affair with Ann also effectively represents these complex attributes of the fog. In essence, the fog in the story carries a dual symbolism - it can represent a deceptive sense of security but also serves as a metaphor for the underlying dangers and complications.
The presence of the sea creature ‘turtle’ in the context of Detective Jang’s insomnia is indeed an interesting symbol. In Leepho, turtle is bred by a grandmother and thieves stole the turtles. Detective Jang pursues criminals who stole the turtles. Detective Jang accidentally releases the turtles and as he attempts to catch them again, he ends up being bitten by the turtle. In the Korean language, "Ja Ra"(the pronunciation of ‘turtle’) means "Sleep" as a command. After his breakdown and relocation to the seemingly safe Leepho, Detective Jang still struggles with insomnia, and the command "Sleep!" remains ineffective for him. Naturally, he ends up physically being bitten by the turtle commanding ‘Sleep!’ [
23].
In contrast, the jellyfish used to induce sleep for Jang by Song is portrayed as sinking deep into the ocean, without eyes or a nose, effectively guiding him into a deep slumber. Even though they are both sea creatures, turtle, subject to the constant command to sleep, bites the hands of Jang, while the jellyfish, like Song, gently drifts into a profound sleep. This comparison serves as a poignant representation of their respective experiences with sleep and the consequences thereof.
In another scene from the movie, there’s a significant moment where Song is served fried rice instead of ice cream as dinner. This scene, with the contrast between the cold ice cream and the hot fried rice, is also considered a symbolic representation. When Detective Jang, who’s preparing the shrimp fried rice, explains that it’s a "only one" Chinese dish that he knows how to cook, Song reacts with a sense of bewilderment:
(Jang cooks shrimp fried rice in a wok as Song watches)
(Jang) This is a ’only one’ Chinese dish that I can make.
(After a while, Song stands in front of the wok and takes a spoonful of fried rice)
(She chews thoughtfully, while Jang anxiously waits for her reaction)
(Song) You call this Chinese food?
(She says to a disappointed Jang) It tastes good.
(Jang, relieved, scoops the rice onto a plate)
In fact, Jang’s fried rice is Korean, not Chinese. Song says it’s delicious, but there’s a Korean/Chinese difference between Jang and Song in the first place. The fried rice is a nice, warm substitute for cold ice cream, but it’s not the Chinese food Song is used to eating. In this subtle way, the fried rice foreshadows the catastrophe of the relationship between Jang and Song, as it slides down the "suspicion-pity-betrayal-collapse-love-suicide" path [
24].
To summarize the various and in-depth symbols and images expressed in the above analysis of the film, we can summarize them as follows.
(1) Mountain/Sea : murder/suicide, doubt/love, investigation/compassion, man/woman, detective/suspect
(2) Pusan/Leepoh: mountain/sea, incident/safety, city/rural
(3) Green/Blue: mountain/sea
(4) Jellyfish/Turtle: sleeping/unsleeping
(5) Fog: dual image of safe and dangerous
(6) Negative images: maggots, ice cream, nuclear power plant, mountain, turtle
(7) Positive images: fried rice, sea, jellyfish
(8) Dramatic images: collapse, unresolved case, abandonment in the depths of the sea
Although we can summarize various images and symbols in the movie like this, it is uncertain whether the devices, places, and characters expressed in the movie actually have such features. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the authenticity by analyzing the nature of the words indicated by each place/device/person using word vectors that can be obtained using a recurrent neural network, a type of deep learning technique. When expressed as a word vector, it is possible to judge the degree to which each word is similar, and when the word vector is reduced to two dimensions and displayed, its location can be visualized.