Hong Sang-soo's 'The Day She Returns' Explores Memory Through Actor's Interviews

By Lee Minji SEOUL, May 1 (Yonhap) -- Bae Jeong-su (Song Sun-mi) is a middle-aged woman who has returned to acting after a long hiatus. After a break from acting -- during which she got married, became a mom of a young girl and got divorced -- she is now back in her profession after 12 years, with a role in an independent film. Director Hong Sang-soo's 34th feature film "The Day She Returns" captures a day of the actor, marked by a series of press interviews she gives to three young female journalists at a restaurant ran by a German Korean family. The black-and-white film is mostly shot at a table by the window, with only the sounds of pots and dishes softly clanging in the background, creating a minimal ambience that allows viewers to concentrate on the quiet tableside dialogue. The camera solely focuses on the actor and captures the voices and appearances of the three reporters from the back and the side, inviting viewers to closely watch Jeong-su as she nonchalantly engages in the interviews over "too many" cups of coffee and some pints of German beer (which some journalists politely refuse). While Jeong-su is eager to speak on the film, the conversation quickly shifts to other areas as the journalists seem to be more interested in her personal life, such as her divorce and how she spends her everyday life. Eventually, the interviewers reveal more about themselves and their frustrations, such as work struggles and a relationship with a lover. The repetitive stream of interviews between Jeong-su and the three young reporters ends with all of them asking the middle-aged actor for "any word of advice for young people." In a generous, big sister-type tone, Jeong-su tells them to love themselves more, even reaching out to give a hug to one of the reporters after the interview. The actor, whose lines often involve the repetition of the words "truly" and "really," also mentions how we should see and accept things as they are for inner peace. But as she tries to reenact the conversations in an acting class that same afternoon, she somewhat falters to recall what she exactly said during the interviews. Her lines come out in different versions from the interviews she gave earlier in the day as an uneasy Jeong-su fidgets with the script amid moments of silence. The rather simple plot of the actor giving interviews and recalling them, only to discover that what she remembers may not be what actually happened, poses some food for thought for viewers -- how do we remember things and is what we remember the truth? But perhaps even this kind of analysis may be unnecessary, as Jeong-su mentioned, it would be better to see and accept the film as it is. "The Day She Returns" premiered in the Panorama section, a category that showcases independent and art house films addressing contemporary social issues and new cinematic trends, at the Berlin International Film Festival in February. It will open at local theaters next Wednesday.