An In-Depth Analysis of Park Chan-wook's Masterful Misdirection and Visual Storytelling in "Decision to Leave"

Spikima Movies

Introduction [0:00]

Park Chan-wook, known for his intense and stylish films, demonstrates his true brilliance in "Decision to Leave" by focusing on the mundane, turning ordinary scenes into opportunities for profound visual storytelling. The film functions as a visual poem, expressing emotions through rhythm, color, tone, images, and sounds, constantly clashing complexity with simplicity, clarity with obscurity.

A Boring Scene [1:08]

The video begins by examining a seemingly "boring" interrogation scene between detective Hae-jun and suspect Seo-rae, following her husband's death.

• Such scenes are typically expository, relying on verbal information and often being visually redundant.
• Many films attempt to mitigate this with close-ups, but these often fail to align with the dialogue, leaving the visual aspect uninspired.

The Trick [2:00]

Park Chan-wook ingeniously solves the problem of visual redundancy by placing a mirror behind the characters during the interrogation, creating a separate visual interaction.

• The shot is divided into four sections: the horizontal axis separates conscious and unconscious elements, while the vertical axis separates the characters.
• Focus Interpretation:
  • Horizontal focus indicates connection.
  • Vertical focus implies certainty.
  • A mismatch shows disconnection.
  • A mix of everything requires more context.
• Scene Progression:
  • The scene starts with both characters in focus, reflections blurred, a neutral faceoff.
  • Focus then alternates between the speaker, making the non-speaker out of focus.
  • When Seo-rae speaks Chinese, she is in focus, and Hae-jun, who doesn't understand, is out of focus.
  • When the Korean translation plays, Hae-jun is in focus, and Seo-rae is blurred.
• Subconscious Connection: Their reflections switch focus so the speaker faces the other person's reflection, creating a visual imbalance that communicates a subconscious desire for connection and eye-to-eye communication. It's a scene of curiosity, not suspicion.

  

  

• Second Act Departure: In the second act, the focus shifts to the vertical axis, with both versions of a single character in or out of focus, highlighting their ultimate incompatibility.
  • This visible world isolates them more than the audible one.

    

• Pivotal Moment: As Hae-jun praises Seo-rae's Korean, three of the four faces sharpen, leaving Seo-rae's "real self" blurred.
  • This signifies Hae-jun and Seo-rae being in sync, but only through a reflection, indicating Seo-rae's realization of Hae-jun's interest.
  • The blurred "real Seo-rae" foreshadows their tragic fate and that their relationship will never fully blossom.
  • The reflections represent an "inkling of love" – a false hope and an irony, a love born from misunderstanding, fulfilled only through incompleteness, an unresolved resolution.

    

The Spoiler Shots [5:15]

Park Chan-wook embeds "spoiler shots" that visually foreshadow events and character dynamics.

• Sushi Box Insert: A close-up of a sushi box containing two distinct lures (one a worm, one a fish) symbolizes the protagonists' fate.
  • The content of the lures describes their opposing traits, while their shared shape signifies they are of the same nature.
  • The drawing on the box (waves) foreshadows the film's final act, and the orientation of the lures suggests they are headed toward the same destination.

    

    

• Ocean Bird's Eye View: A momentary bird's eye view of the ocean reveals Seo-rae's face in the waves, a fleeting visual message that is easily missed but reinforces the film's hidden depths.

  

Misdirection [6:26]

The film's core theme is "obscurity," which is established from the misleading opening shot.

• Opening Scene: The film begins with a violent gunshot sound on a black screen, leading the audience to expect an intense chase. Instead, it transitions to two cops at a shooting range, an anticlimactic scene that ends without revealing the target, setting a precedent for misdirection.

  

• Theme of Obscurity: This misleading opening is integral to the film's theme, with subsequent elements like a mysterious death, eyedrops that blur before clarifying, and binoculars that eclipse surroundings, all visualizing obscurity.

  

Actions [7:43]

Hae-jun and Seo-rae's relationship is complex, with their actions and hearts often out of sync, mirroring the discrepancies between words and visual cues.

• Syncopated Rhythm: Obsession manifests as a stakeout, private perspectives are stylized as shared experiences, and personal affections are disguised as professionalism.

Repeating Ambiguity [8:20]

The violent clashes between the characters produce a duality of repetition and ambiguity.

• Repetition: Recurring colors, actions, and words highlight their fixation, resemblance, and confessions.

  

• Ambiguity: The ambiguity within these same categories underscores their misconnection and misunderstandings.

  

Colors [8:40]

Color symbolism is heavily utilized to represent the characters' fundamental differences and similarities.

• Red, Green, Blue: These colors constantly remind the audience of the characters' differences and similarities, akin to mountains (often associated with green/earth) and oceans (blue/water).

  

• Turquoise: The most prevalent color, turquoise, a mix of green and blue, symbolizes the blend of land and water, representing how Hae-jun (mountain) and Seo-rae (ocean) face each other.

  

• Unmixable Colors: Their colors cannot mix, and their languages are too foreign, symbolizing their fundamental distance and their inability to fully converge despite their deep connection. Yet, on a higher, deeper level, they translate and comprehend each other.

  

Vertical Movement [10:18]

Vertical camera movements provide the film's only objective perspective amidst the deception.

• Symbolism:
  • Upward motion represents a struggle for resolution, like climbing a mountain (the place of answers).
  • Downward motion signifies a fall into mystery, like descending into the ocean (the place of loss and uncertainty).
• Character Arcs:
  • Hae-jun, a man of the mountains, slowly descends.
  • Seo-rae, a woman of the ocean, slowly ascends.
• Initial Encounter: When Hae-jun first meets Seo-rae, the camera tilts upward, visualizing his mountain-like nature and his desire for resolution. They wish to be in each other's places but never truly cross paths.

  

  

  

• Climax: The film's climax sees them tragically missing each other and switching places – Hae-jun from top to bottom, Seo-rae from bottom to top – still enveloped in their symbolic colors.

  

  

• Film's Visual Arc: The entire visual arc of "Decision to Leave" is structured as a vertical movement, starting at a cliff edge and descending into the ocean, but with a momentary "peak" when Seo-rae confesses her love. This "climactic fall" signifies an abrupt and devastating crash rather than a controlled descent.

  

  

Eyedrops [12:14]

"Decision to Leave" intentionally withholds crucial details from the audience, mirroring Hae-jun's own journey.

• Hae-jun's Blindness: The audience follows Hae-jun, a character seeking clarity but blinded by love and suspicion.
• Symbol of Frustration: His use of eyedrops, hoping for an "outside perspective" to see what the dead saw, is a physical manifestation of his frustration. The film similarly blinds the audience.
• Shared Ambiguity: Just as Hae-jun searches for objective truth in vain, the audience is forced to seek answers on screen with no definitive clarity.
  • Examples include Seo-rae's dress appearing blue or green, or wallpaper seen as either a mountain or the ocean – only possibilities exist.

    

• Hae-jun's Fate: Whether eyedrops are used for truth or protection, Hae-jun remains a "mountain of sand," destined to crumble.

  

The Final Mystery [13:25]

Hae-jun's vulnerability and inability to recognize his own confession of love contribute to the relationship's destruction.

• Hae-jun's Love Language: From his rigid, mountain-like perspective, there was no verbal confession of love. His expression of love was problem-solving, like telling Seo-rae to throw her problem (the phone) into the ocean.

  

  

• Seo-rae's Understanding: Seo-rae understood this. She responds by "pushing his problems to her, like a jellyfish pushing water to move on," taking his burdens and throwing them into the ocean, as he once advised her.

  

  

• The Ultimate Problem: One by one, he hands his problems to Seo-rae until she becomes the final, ultimate problem.

  

Decision to Leave [14:42]

Every aspect of "Decision to Leave," from its plot to its theme, is built on obscurity and misdirection.

• Concealed Truth: Through sounds, images, and structure, the film conceals truth from both characters and audience, clouding their vision and leading them astray.

  

• Mutated Message: This misperception creates a blur, a distant echo that mutates the original message.
• Wish to Stay: The film concludes that a simple decision rarely leads to action; some decisions are meant to be kept in the heart. Their "Decision to Leave" was never meant to be fulfilled but was a profound wish to stay.