[Dispatch=Reporter Tae-Yoon Jung] "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods."

The commandment from the Ten Commandments that opens the film speaks directly to two couples. Director Lee Chang-dong does not stop at the prohibition. Is it truly possible to live without coveting another's life?

The four of them have lived different lives. But when they meet through documentary filmmaking, they seep into each other's lives. In that process, desires they had hidden gradually come to light.

Someone covets another's life, someone else envies what others have. Yet another yearns for a freedom they do not possess. While the directions of desire differ, they confront their own deficiencies through the lives of others.

Director Lee Chang-dong said, "The reality we live in is not simple. It conceals many complex forms, and I wanted to touch upon those."

"In one way it seems like a story of a laid-off worker, and in another way it seems like class conflict. In yet another way it seems like a story about the attitude and ethics of filmmakers. Through the story of two couples, I wanted audiences to feel, think, and share questions, and that is why I made this film."

On the 21st, Netflix film "A Possible Love" held a press screening and press conference at CGV Yongsan I-Park Mall in Seoul. Director Lee Chang-dong, Seol Kyung-gu, Jo In-sung, and Jo Yeo-jung attended. Jun Do-yeon participated via video.

"A Possible Love" tells the story of two couples—a laid-off worker and his wife, and a documentary director and her husband—who meet for documentary production and confront each other's different lives and hidden desires.

It has swept overseas film festivals. At the 84th Venice International Film Festival, it won the Silver Lion (jury prize) in the competition section. At the 51st Toronto International Film Festival, it took home the directing award.

Director Lee brought the Silver Lion in person that day. He said, "Rather than the award, what mattered was this film going out into the world and meeting audiences," and added, "I was glad and pleased that the film was well understood in what it wanted to say."

After the press conference at the Venice Film Festival, media's requests for autographs from the cast became a topic of discussion. Seol Kyung-gu shed hot tears right after the screening.

Jo In-sung said, "It was a solemn occasion, but after it ended, suddenly everyone came rushing out, and I thought we'd done something wrong. It was surprising and moving. I could feel the standing of Korean cinema."

Seol Kyung-gu said, "When I watched the scene where Mi-ok [played by Jun Do-yeon] and I looked at the moon together at the end, the filming swept through like a panorama, and tears came out. But it was good that I cried," and laughed sheepishly.

Jun Do-yeon played Mi-ok, the wife of laid-off worker Ho-seok. Mi-ok is a worker at a mask factory who, even amid the aftereffects a general strike left on her family, tries to overcome her wounds and move forward.

Regarding Mi-ok, Jun Do-yeon said, "I believe money and class can destroy or take away a person's values. But Mi-ok is a character who tries to protect her own values from those things."

Seol Kyung-gu played Ho-seok. Ho-seok continues to suffer aftereffects even long after experiencing the general strike and violent suppression. He meets documentary director Yeji and confronts his wounds anew.

He said, "The trauma after the layoff is profound. After going through prison as well, my sense of self was shattered, and I had complex emotions—shame, guilt, anger—and a sense of inferiority."

Jo In-sung played Sang-woo, Yeji's husband. Sang-woo was born and raised in a wealthy family. He stands by his wife Yeji and supports her. He mingles with Mi-ok and Ho-seok's couple to help with his wife's work.

Jo In-sung recalled, "Sang-woo is a figure of capitalism. I think money has poison in it—it's a double-edged sword that can help or harm someone. I projected that image onto Sang-woo in my performance."

Jo Yeo-jung took on documentary director Yeji. Yeji is a director who illuminates the lives of laid-off workers. She strives to genuinely grow closer to Mi-ok and Ho-seok's couple.

Jo Yeo-jung said, "I played Yeji with a heart of coveting, trying to fill something unfulfilled in my own life through other people's lives and put it into my film."

Yeji is the character most aligned with Director Lee Chang-dong's perspective.

Director Lee Chang-dong began about Yeji, "About ten years ago, when a large-scale layoff at a major corporation occurred, it was a great shock to me."

He continued, "I wanted to tell this story but abandoned it. The reason was that I questioned whether I had the right to tell this story," he confessed.

In the draft, the documentary director couple was added, allowing him to fully unfold this narrative. Director Lee Chang-dong said, "Through Yeji, I thought I could tell this story as a filmmaker."

"For creators like me who depict the lives of others, there is always a fundamental concern: Can I speak their story without consuming their lives? I have asked this question my whole life. I do not think I will find an easy answer." (Lee Chang-dong)

If people could be divided by money, Yeji would belong to a different class from Ho-seok and Mi-ok's couple. Yet Yeji tries to understand their lives and capture them on camera as if she had become a laid-off worker herself.

Sang-woo calls this "method acting," but Yeji says she truly loves them. Director Lee Chang-dong said, "I do not think Yeji's attitude unilaterally exploits her subjects."

"But whether that is for making it into film material or for conveying something else is a difficult boundary to find. Though Sang-woo is married to a capitalist, he tries to make films without relying on his power, which is similar.

I think the same applies to me. Artists cannot tell their own stories without the help of capital. It may be an inescapable fate. Even within that, there is the desire to truly love rather than covet or exploit. I cannot help but ask whether such a thing is possible."

The film, as if transposing an actual documentary, intensively shows flashback scenes of the strike and captures at length the voices of workers sharing at a psychological counseling center.

The director said, "I thought this film should not only show the perspective of someone making a documentary, but should show the content Yeji tries to capture, the interviews and investigations."

"It may feel quite long, but I wanted to convey their stories as if it were an actual documentary. While it is a story of two couples, I wanted to tell the story of people whose lives were destroyed by labor issues, who lost their jobs and thereby lost their identity, and who felt an emptiness within themselves." (Lee Chang-dong)

Director Lee Chang-dong finally expressed, "I am excited and looking forward to how this film will meet audiences. I believe the audience completes the film. I hope this film can live more powerfully and meaningfully."

"A Possible Love" opens in select theaters on the 23rd. On November 6th, it will also be available on Netflix. The running time is 164 minutes.

<Photos by Hyojin Song, Reporter>