Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Hong Sang-soo
Starring: Kim Min-hee, Seo Young-hwa, Song Seon-mi, Kim Sae-byuk, Lee Eun-mi, Kwon Hae-hyo
I've long believed that the true mark of an actor's talent lies in how
convincingly they portray the everyday task of eating. How many times have
you seen a pampered movie star eat a cheeseburger in a way that betrays
their uber healthy lifestyle, approaching the consumption of this fast food
staple as if they had landed on Earth from another planet and were only just
getting around to sampling our cuisine? James Garner was the ultimate screen
eater. Just watch how as TV detective Jim Rockford, he wolfs down tacos as
though craft services were on strike. There are scenes in his oeuvre where
you can feel that he's concentrating more on his food than on his dialogue,
more interested in licking hot sauce off his fingertips than in listening to
whomever he's sharing the scene with. It's glorious.
In her latest collaboration with her offscreen partner and onscreen
writer/director Hong Sang-soo, the ethereal actress Kim Min-hee
does some fabulous eating, gorging on meat, taking the time to apply it
between slices of lettuce to form some sort of weight conscious kebab;
crunching into immaculately peeled apple slices; eating a chocolate sweet in
tiny bites to make the small confection last as long as possible; using a
fork to scrape the last bit of sauce from a bowl. As the film's protagonist,
Gam-hee, she eats like a fugitive who believes every meal might be her
last.
And perhaps Gam-hee is a fugitive of sorts. Married for five years, she's
only now gotten around to spending time away from her husband, taking
advantage of his business trip to visit old friends and acquaintances, whose
delight at seeing her once again varies.
Her first port of call is to Young-soon (Seo Young-hwa), who
lives with a younger room-mate that we quickly assume to be her lesbian
lover. Then she's off to artist Su-young (Song Seon-mi), who
boasts of making huge sums of money but doesn't seem very happy for all her
wealth. Finally Gam-hee drops into an arthouse cinema run by Woo-jin
(Kim Sae-byuk), who it's implied once stole an old lover from her
grasp.
As is the custom with Sang-soo's work,
The Woman Who Ran consists of a series of lengthy and
seemingly innocuous conversations that can seem exasperating if you don't
have the patience to hear him out. In her meetings with these women, Gam-hee
gives little away about her life, giving stock answers to queries regarding
her happiness and the state of her marriage. While the other women express
jealousy at her seemingly contented life, Gam-hee appears equally envious of
their freedom. In her encounter with Young-soon she seems to take
inspiration when Young-soon refuses to give into a male neighbour's demands
that she stop feeding the area's stray cats. Later she watches on CCTV as
Su-young similarly asserts herself with a young poet who insists on trying
to make something more of a one night stand.
Taking strength from these examples, Gam-hee stands up to Jung (Kwon Hae-hyo), her one-time lover, now a successful novelist and public speaker.
Echoing the complaints of his own wife, Woo-jin, Gam-hee tells him he's a
fraud who talks nonsense on TV but no longer has anything of value to say.
Gam-hee seems to connect with Woo-jin's inability to stand up to her
blowhard hubby, but is she substituting taking a stand for Woo-jin for
facing off with her own husband, who comes across as a domineering plonker
from the small nuggets we're fed?
If The Woman Who Ran were made by certain other Korean
filmmakers, we might begin to expect a twist where it's revealed that
Gam-hee has murdered her husband, but Sang-soo isn't one for such obvious
drama. Perhaps Gam-hee really is happy in her marriage and is simply taking
this trip to fill a gap until the man she loves returns. Nah, I don't think
so. Gam-hee is clearly a woman who is revelling in no longer being stifled
and smothered, whether by love or something more proprietary. You can see it
in how she eats, in the cheeky glint in her eyes when she sneaks a forbidden
bite of bread during an arthouse screening. This is a woman who is enjoying
breaking the rules in a movie by a filmmaker who similarly has never cared
much about conventions.
As we've come to expect from Sang-soo, The Woman Who Ran is a
film where very little happens during its running time, but its characters
seem to continue existing beyond the closing credits. We suspect the real
drama for Gam-hee will begin when she returns home, but Sang-soo will leave
that for more unadventurous filmmakers to explore.
