Director Lee Chang-dong returns with 'Possible Love' on Netflix

"I felt that an era had arrived in which labor itself is disappearing alongside technological advancement," director Lee Chang-dong said. "Compared to when I first set out to make films, the necessity of telling this story has only grown stronger."

The seed of the idea was planted more than a decade ago. A wave of mass layoffs at a major conglomerate, a general strike that followed, and the forcible suppression of that strike by authorities sent a shock through Korean society. Lee resolved to make a film about it — but a question consumed him: was it right to turn what was, for some, a desperate fight for survival into a drama? Ultimately, he shelved the project he had worked so hard to develop.

Early last year, Lee returned to the material he had set aside. As the value of labor shifted by the day and the disappearance of jobs became a lived reality, the conviction that "this story needs to be told now" moved him to act again. Director Lee Chang-dong's film "Possible Love" was completed after that long journey through doubt, hesitation and, finally, certainty.

Lee Chang-dong, the director behind "Peppermint Candy" (2000), "Oasis" (2002) and "Miryang" (2007), returns to audiences after eight years with "Possible Love," a Netflix original film backed by the streaming platform.

Lee had been determined from the start to make "Possible Love" as a theatrical film. But the reality proved unforgiving. A depressed film industry was reluctant to open its wallet even for a name as established as Lee Chang-dong. Netflix was the one that extended a hand. The news that the comeback film from one of Korean cinema's most celebrated auteurs would arrive through a global OTT platform posed a weighty question to an industry that had moved beyond crisis to face a threat to its very existence.

At the production press conference held Tuesday at Hotel Naru in Mapo-gu, Seoul, Lee explained how the film came to be a Netflix original. "Netflix was interested in this project from the outset. Even so, I wanted to make a theatrical film, and they waited while I looked for investment," he said. "When it became clear that a theatrical release was not going to be feasible, Netflix came back and showed their belief in the project."

"In the first half of last year, when I decided to make this film, there were real doubts about whether the Korean film industry could recover. Even so, I believed films had to be made," Lee added. "The structural shift toward a coexistence of theatrical releases and streaming services is something no one can stop. The question now is how to get closer to audiences within that reality."

"Possible Love" follows two couples whose lives intersect: Ho-seok, a laid-off worker, and his wife Mi-ok; and Ye-ji, a documentary filmmaker covering laid-off workers, and her husband Sang-u. The story begins when Ho-seok and Mi-ok run into Ye-ji and Sang-u at the funeral of a former colleague.

Ye-ji proposes an interview with the couple for her documentary. Mi-ok agrees readily, but Ho-seok resists. To break down his reluctance, Ye-ji suggests the four of them take a summer vacation together. The two couples end up at Sang-u's summer house on the West Sea coast, where their contrasting lives come face to face and the desires each has kept hidden begin to surface.

Lee said screenwriter Oh Jung-mi, his collaborator on the film, proposed layering the story of the laid-off couple with that of a second couple. "She suggested that overlapping the two couples' stories would add another dimension and make the film richer," he said. "That was the process through which the film came back to life."

The cast brings together Jeon Do-yeon and Sul Kyung-gu, both longtime collaborators of Lee, alongside Jo In-sung and Jo Yeo-jeong. Jeon, who plays Mi-ok, reunites with Lee more than 20 years after "Miryang." She said she immediately asked for the script upon receiving the casting offer, describing her eagerness to work with Lee again as something beyond ordinary ambition.

"Mi-ok is a resilient character who refuses to let go of hope even as she lives with the uncertainty of when her laid-off husband's anger might explode," Jeon said. "The fact that it was Director Lee Chang-dong's project alone made it something I had to do. After reading the script, I thought — yes, this is unmistakably Lee Chang-dong."

Sul Kyung-gu plays Ho-seok, Mi-ok's husband — his third collaboration with Lee, following "Peppermint Candy" and "Oasis." When the offer came, his schedule for the Netflix drama series "Mousetrap" overlapped with the shoot, making it seemingly impossible to join. Sul pushed through anyway, enduring several consecutive all-nighters to answer Lee's call.

"Just being in a project with Director Lee was more than enough for me," Sul said. "I acted with the spirit of going back to the beginning — back to how I felt on 'Peppermint Candy.'"

Audiences are also anticipating the on-screen chemistry between Jeon Do-yeon and Sul Kyung-gu, who appear together for the fourth time — following "I Wish I Had a Wife" (2001), "Birthday" (2019) and "Kill Boksoon" (2023) — and play a married couple for the second time. Jeon laughed and admitted she had "briefly thought about wanting a new screen spouse," but added: "We've spent so much time together that Sul Kyung-gu and I have a deep mutual trust. I think that's why we came across as a genuinely married couple."

Jo In-sung was cast as Sang-u, a man raised in comfort who carries warmth but rarely reveals his inner feelings, while Jo Yeo-jeong takes the role of Ye-ji, the documentary director whose actions set everything in motion.

"There aren't many opportunities to learn as an actor, so I went to set with the mindset of learning from the director," Jo In-sung said. "It felt like everyone in the film returned to their roots." Jo Yeo-jeong added: "I worked hard to truly inhabit Ye-ji on set. Every single day of that process felt precious and joyful."

Lee's wish to make a theatrical film was partly fulfilled when "Possible Love" secured a limited theatrical release on Sept. 23, just ahead of the Chuseok holiday. "Some may see the theatrical release as being for film festival eligibility, but Netflix promised a theatrical run before the streaming launch from the very beginning, and they kept that promise," Lee said.

Anticipation for Lee's return runs high both at home and abroad. The film has already drawn strong interest from major international film festivals before its release. Most immediately, it will have its world premiere in the competition section of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, opening early next month.

The Korean Film Council announced Tuesday that "Possible Love" has been selected as South Korea's submission for the international feature film category at the 99th Academy Awards.

"This film is, true to its title, about love — love between a man and a woman, love between people, and the feeling that drives people like us to make films," Lee said. "It asks what kinds of love are possible in the lives we lead, and what it takes to protect that love. I'm curious to see how audiences respond for the first time."