Decision To Leave

''Decision to Leave'' () is a 2022 South Korean romantic mystery film produced, co-written and directed by Park Chan-wook. It stars Tang Wei and Park Hae-il.

In April 2022, the film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where Park Chan-wook won Best Director. ''Decision to Leave'' was released theatrically on 29 June 2022 in South Korea. It was selected as the South Korean entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards, making the December shortlist. It was also named one of the top 5 international films of 2022 by the National Board of Review.

Plot

An insomniac detective, Hae-Jun, works in Busan and only sees his wife, Jung-An, a nuclear power plant worker residing in Ipo, once a week. Hae-Jun and his partner Soo-Wan encounter a case where a retired immigration worker, Ki Do Soo, is found dead at the foot of a mountain he often climbed. They interview his much younger wife, Seo-Rae, an emigrant from China who works as a caretaker for seniors. They suspect her because of her insufficient displays of grief, a scratch on her hand, bruises on her legs and torso, and a tattoo of Ki's initials in the manner that he marked his other belongings.

Hae-Jun does nightly stakeouts outside of Seo-Rae's apartment building, becoming obsessed with her and imagining himself inside her apartment. Seo-Rae discovers him stalking her and tails his other investigations in turn. Seo-Rae's Monday client says that Seo-Rae was with her on the day that Ki died. Seo-Rae admits that in China, she killed her mother with fentanyl pills because her mother was terminally ill and asked her to do so. Before dying, she told Seo-Rae to go to Korea to claim the mountain her Korean grandfather, an independence fighter in Manchuria, had left her. Soo-Wan and Hae-Jun discover letters from Ki admitting to being a corrupt immigration official and a letter sent to Ki's subordinate that they interpret as a suicide letter. Hae-Jun concludes that the death is a suicide and informs Seo-Rae that she is no longer a suspect.

Seo-Rae and Hae-Jun go on a date at a Buddhist temple, visit each other's homes, and become close. Seo-Rae burns the photo evidence from her husband's case, reasoning that Hae-Jun's insomnia is caused by his haunting cases. One day, she has Hae-Jun substitute for her at her Monday client. Hae-Jun learns that Seo-Rae and the client have the same model of cell phone, and the client has dementia and does not know the day of the week. On the client's cell phone, he sees that the housebound woman apparently walked up 138 flights of stairs on the day of Ki's death. Hae-Jun realizes that Seo-Rae switched phones with her client on the day of the murder and then climbed the mountain to push Ki off. She also forged his suicide note and got close to Hae-Jun to destroy his evidence. Hae-Jun tells Seo-Rae that she has destroyed his pride in his job and that, since meeting her, he has become "shattered", but instructs her to throw the incriminating phone into the sea.

Thirteen months later, Hae-Jun has moved to Ipo to live with Jung-An after developing depression and more severe insomnia. At the fish market with Jung-An, he encounters Seo-Rae with Im Ho-Shin, her new husband, a business investor. The next day, Ho-Shin is found dead in his mansion's swimming pool. Hae-Jun is convinced Seo-Rae is the culprit. She admits only to draining the pool so that Hae-Jun would not be disturbed by the blood. Sa Cheol-Seong, a Chinese immigrant, soon confesses to killing Ho-Shin for defrauding his late mother of millions of dollars. Sa denies that Seo-Rae played any role and reveals he had installed a tracker on Seo-Rae's phone so he knew where she was at all times.

Hae-Jun confronts Seo-Rae at the mountain her grandfather left her. She tells him that Ho-Shin had discovered a phone recording where Hae-Jun told Seo-Rae that he loved her and he had threatened to expose their illicit relationship. Hae-Jun doesn't recall telling Seo-Rae that he loved her, though she says she began loving him as he stopped loving her. She reaches Hae-Jun at the edge of the mountain and hugs him. They kiss passionately. Jung-An leaves Hae-Jun when he returns home, suspecting an affair with Seo-Rae.

The next day, Hae-Jun learns that Seo-Rae visited Sa's mother in the hospital and the mother died later that day. He concludes that Seo-Rae slipped the mother the remaining fentanyl pills she had in her possession, because Sa had threatened to kill Ho-Shin as soon as his mother died. Hae-Jun tracks Seo-Rae's phone via the tracker Sa installed on her phone and chases her to a beach. There, he finds her empty car and the cell phone with the recording on the dashboard. He plays the recording, and it contains his instructions for Seo-Rae to destroy the phone with incriminating evidence from Ki's case. Further out on the shore, Seo-Rae digs a pit in the sand and gets in it as the tide rises, letting it drown and bury her. Hae-Jun arrives at the beach and is unable to find Seo-Rae, although he is actually standing on her grave. He searches desperately for her and cries in anguish.

Cast

Production

The film is produced by Moho Film and is financed and distributed by CJ Entertainment. It began principal photography in October 2020.

Release

''Decision to Leave'' was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival to be held from 17 to 28 May 2022. It screened for the first time at the Lumière Grand Theater on 23 May 2022 and was subsequently released theatrically in South Korea on 29 June 2022. According to CJ E&M, the film was sold to 192 countries ahead of its premiere in competition at Cannes.

In April 2022, streaming service Mubi acquired the rights to release the film in North America, the United Kingdom and Ireland, India and Turkey, to be streamed after its theatrical release later in the year.

''Decision to Leave'' had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2022, and its US premiere at Fantastic Fest Film Festival took place in the same month. It was released theatrically in the United States and United Kingdom on 14 October 2022, and in Australia in the same week.

Reception

Box office

The film was released on 29 June 2022 on 1,374 screens. It opened at first place on Korean box office with 114,592 admissions. On 13 July, after two weeks of release, the film surpassed 1 million cumulative admissions.

, it is the 8th highest-grossing Korean film of 2022, with a gross of US$13,574,873 and 1,884,394 admissions.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 185 reviews of the film are positive, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's critics consensus reads "If ''Decision to Leave'' isn't quite on the same level as Park Chan-wook's masterpieces, this romantic thriller is still a remarkable achievement by any other metric." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 84 out of 100 based on 44 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

David Rooney of ''The Hollywood Reporter'', praising the director Park Chan-wook, wrote "A world-class artist at the top of his game...all while navigating multilayered plots that continue to deliver surprises right up until the end. It's a luxury to put yourself as a viewer in such capable hands."

Peter Howell of ''Toronto Star'' rated the film 4 out of 4 and wrote "every frame is like a painting, with hints to character motivation and plot twists."

Rafael Motamayor of Slash Film rated the film 7 out of 10 and wrote "This he filmis not as surprising or innovative as director Park's earlier work, but it is still a fascinating and exquisitely directed film about desire, regret, and love."

Luke Goodsell of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation called the film "a testament to Park's undimmed talent...''Decision to Leave'' is one of his best".

Accolades

Listicle

See also

* List of submissions to the 95th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
* List of South Korean submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

References

External links

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Decision to Leave
' at Naver Movies

{{DEFAULTSORT:Decision to Leave
2022 multilingual films
2022 independent films
2022 romance films
2022 thriller films
2020s Korean-language films
2020s Mandarin-language films
2020s mystery thriller films
2020s romantic thriller films
2020s South Korean films
CJ Entertainment films
Films directed by Park Chan-wook
Films set in Busan
Films set in Gyeonggi Province
Police detective films
South Korean multilingual films
South Korean mystery thriller films
South Korean neo-noir films
South Korean romantic thriller films