Past Lives

It speaks to the immense quality of Past Lives that, despite premiering at Sundance earlier in the year, Berlin’s selection committee elected it qualifiable to run in the Competition (rather than one of the sections usually more receptive to “double-booking”).

The feature opens in a New York bar, introducing protagonists Nora (Greta Lee), Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) and Arthur (John Magaro) via off-screen speculation from other patrons as to who they might be to each other. The narrative then jumps back in time and eventually reveals that there is a dash of truth to all of these guesses. Nora was born in Korea, where Hae Sung was her childhood sweetheart, their young love cut short when Nora’s family migrates to Canada. In her 20s she moves to the US and at a writing residency she meets Arthur, whom she ends up marrying. The night at the bar is the first time the two men in her life meet.

It is utterly astonishing that this marks playwright Celine Song’s first feature as a director, since it is as close to perfect as any film may come. The script ingeniously balances heartbreak, humour and humanity with cultural as well as personal interpretations of fate, without ever coming across as anything but genuine. The performances (by all three protagonists) are equally true to life and emotionally engaging on a spectrum of feelings. Few eyes stay dry, both at the morning’s press screening and the public premiere a few hours later. Framed with the expertise of someone who has been communicating in moving images for years, her use of cinematography stunningly encapsulates the characters in the spaces they share and all that is left unspoken between them.

Celine Song’s dazzling take on reincarnations of the self within the same lifetime is easily the best picture of 2023 so far, and we will surely be hearing more about it in the upcoming months.

Selina Sondermann

Past Lives does not have a UK release date yet.

Read more reviews from our Berlin Film Festival 2023 coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the Berlin Film Festival website here.