Park Chan-Wook, filmmaker: “I like characters who fight to survive”

The South Korean director returns, in an interview with the “world”, on the genesis of his film “Decision to Leave”, born of a love song very well known in his country.

Interview by

Presented in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May, the new feature film by Park Chan-Wook, Decision to Leave, received the staging prize. The Korean filmmaker returns to the creation of this film.

What motivated the desire to tell this story?

At the origin of the film, there is a very well-known Korean love song, Mist (“Brume”), interpreted by singer Jung Hoon-Hee, whom I listened to a lot when I was young. One day, I heard it on Youtube, telling myself that it was really very beautiful. The algorithms then offered me the same song, interpreted this time by my favorite singer, Song Chang-Sik. I did not know that he had taken it back. It gave me the idea of ​​a film that would start with the song interpreted by the original singer, and at the end with him. To correspond to the title of this, the film had to happen in a misty city. But my original idea did not materialize since I finally preferred a version where the two singers interpret this song as a duo.

for writing the script, did you leave situations And special moments that you had in mind and around which you wrote the story?

It is first the story that was the source of the film. By working with my Coscenarist Jeong Seo-Kyeong, we started with writing. At the start, I had not yet visualized the film. The sequences and situations came after.

The visual style of the film is remarkable for its elegance. What special instructions do you give to your director of photography?

This is the first time I have worked with him. My previous director of photography, Chung Chung-Hoon, with whom I worked from Old Boy to Mademoiselle, is so asked by Hollywood today, that it has become impossible for me to rework with him. With this new head of operator, Kim Ji-Yong, it took a time of adaptation at the start. The creation of the storyboard was the moment when we adjusted and familiarized each other. At the start of filming at the start of the shooting.

I cannot define premeditated style. It was necessary to agree with the director of the photo on what was the size of the plans I asked, that my idea of ​​the close -up corresponds to his. I wanted there to be a certain type of tension on all levels, all the camera movements. Which says like that, may seem a little abstract.

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/Media reports.