In the name of morality, or in the name of the heart

Sincere 2022-03-10 08:01:48

three people.


One is the heroine, who fell in love with a famous director who had a married man, and was forced to avoid Germany by public opinion;


the second is a big sister in Germany, born type, avoids closeness, avoids feelings, isolates the outside world, mentions the previous A marriage, says:




The third is a friend who runs a coffee shop. He doesn't love his girlfriend, but in order to "live" and to live, he is still with his girlfriend. This is a practical need, as well as a physical and social need, and even urges the heroine to get married early After giving birth to a child, he returned to his normal life, but he didn't even dare to admit happily in front of outsiders that it was his girlfriend who was standing in front of the cafe.

In this regard, the heroine is like this to her senior friends:



It seems that it is impossible to evaluate the "level" of each person's choice, it can only be said that it is determined by their own personality experience. All entanglement stems from the fact that all options have pros and cons. There is no ready-made option that perfectly meets all of your needs, right?


As for the director's attitude, in the story structure, these other two people are obviously just to contrast the heroine. The coffee shop owner who is unhappy in his trivial life may be disappointed in marriage and life in the future and escape far away. Big sister from Germany.


Here is a detail. There are five times in the film that the man in black appears inexplicable in the plot. My understanding is that it is the embodiment of social morality and social pressure. When the heroine fled to Germany because of this incestuous love, she was alone on the seaside at night, like this:




She was kidnapped and carried away by men in black.


After many years, after thinking clearly, returning to Korea, alone at the seaside at night, it became a walk by himself:




Comparing these two images, what Hong Sang-soo wants to express through this film is clear: love should abandon social pressure and choose what you really want.


But having said that, in reality, this extramarital affair between Hong Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee is finally married. They mocked the Korean mainstream moral stick with the answer sheet of their actions, and also mocked the other two kinds of people. And after Kim Min-hee won the Best Actress in Berlin, she also said "I respect you, I love you" in front of the microphone, which provokes the nerves of all Korea.

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Extended Reading

On the Beach at Night Alone quotes

  • Jun-hee: Are you still searching for love?

    Young-hee: Where's love? It's not even visible. You need to see it in order to search for it.

  • Young-hee: You can't love, so you cling to life, right?