It is not surprising to see the Cannes jury presided over by Vincent Lindon give its prize for directing to Park Chan-wook for Decision to Leave. This poisonous thriller with sublime images would also have deserved that of the screenplay as this face-to-face between a suspect and a policeman proves to be delectable.
“I wanted to play on the codes of film noir,” explains the director of old boy and Miss at 20 minutes. Impossible not to think of Alfred Hitchcock with this plot where a conscientious investigator (Park Hae-il) and a not really sad widow (Tang Wei) desire each other without touching around the still warm corpse of an abusive husband.
“I speak of thwarted love in Decision to Leave, insists the director. I wanted to take the viewer where he didn’t think he was going. The characters play with each other. And I play with the public. Manipulation is at the center of this diabolical story where each in turn takes power over the other. Passionate feelings arise as the sensual suspense unfolds.
Food at the center of the story
“In real life, I lead a peaceful existence,” says Park Chan-wook. My desires and impulses, I keep them for the cinema. And his hero is going to drool over the bewitchingly beautiful young woman. “In two hours, I have to summarize the lives of several characters,” he explains. This is why I take pleasure in cooking my heroes by confronting them with untenable situations. »
Food occupies a prominent place in Park Chan-wook’s cinema. We remember the devoured octopus living in old boy. There, they are a plate of sushi and a hot dog which illustrate the evolution of the feelings of the hero towards the woman who obsesses him. “Cinema appeals only to sight and hearing,” he explains. Showing food allows me to stimulate other senses in the viewer who can imagine its consistency, taste and smell. »
The fact that the heroes never touch reinforces these feelings. “It’s knowingly that I didn’t put a sex scene in my film, I wanted to convey the eroticism through other means, to make a real film for adults, where passion would not be expressed in a too obvious,” says the filmmaker. This bias makes us taste Decision To Leave like a delicate dish that we enjoy with a pleasure that is not only intellectual.