movie reviews decision to leave

Decision to Leave

Park Chan-wook doesn’t make films that feel as traditional as the first hour of “Decision to Leave.” Anyone who knows that this is a movie from the director of “Oldboy” and “ The Handmaiden ” will be looking closely at the relatively straightforward thriller in front of them and trying to figure how it’s going to turn chaotic. The truth is that the first half of this film, despite its very strong craft, has a script that could have been a Bruce Willis erotic thriller in the 1990s with barely a rewrite. It’s another story of a good cop falling for one of his suspects and making the kind of mistakes that happen in thrillers when officers stop using logic. Of course, “Decision to Leave” does take a turn, although I wonder if it will be sharp enough for Park’s rabid fans. To this viewer, it develops into a pretty nifty piece of genre work, a thriller that’s expertly made even if it doesn’t quite hum like the best Park films. The fact that a good, well-made thriller feels almost like a disappointment given this creator’s pedigree is just a testament to the work he’s produced before.

Hae-jun (Park Hae-il) burns the candle at both ends as a Busan detective who has a “weekend marriage” with his wife in Ipo, meaning he’s only there when he’s not working cases. They seem happy enough but also have to keep discussing how they’re making this union work—never a good sign. That’s when Hae-jun meets Seo-rae (the excellent Tang Wei ), the Chinese wife of a mountain climber who just fell from his favorite peak. Or did he?

Hae-jun’s partner immediately suspects Seo-rae; Hae-jun himself is quick to defend her. It was probably an accident or maybe even a suicide, right? This beguiling, elusive woman couldn’t be a murderer. And Hae-jun gets drawn into more than just the case as he surveils Seo-rae and becomes obsessed with her quirks. As he crosses the professional line to learn more about Hae-jun, he starts to make mistakes, and Park cleverly embeds focus issues into his story, whether it’s the morning fog of Ipo or the eye drops that Hae-jun has to use to clear up his blurred vision. He’s not seeing things right.

And then, of course, there’s a turn. It’s impossible to discuss the second half of “Decision to Leave” without spoilers so I won’t divulge details, but it echoes the first in increasingly fascinating ways. There’s another mystery that’s thrust into Hae-jun’s life and it forces him to rethink every decision he made in the first case and what matters to him now. Park plays with elements of not just noir but the old-fashioned romance movies that Seo-rae likes to watch. He basically sets these characters up, defining them in the first half, and then bounces them off each other in unexpected ways in the second half, ultimately leading to a rewarding thriller even if it lacks the sharp edges we’ve come to expect from Park.

Don’t get me wrong. This is not a mainstream, happy departure for Park Chan-wook. He’s still fascinated by the lengths, usually violent, that people will go to for emotionally irrational reasons. He really sets up Hae-jun as a rational creature so he can then unmoor him from his routines and see what happens. And he’s wonderfully playful here with the theme of communication—Seo-rae speaks Korean but sometimes has to use a translator app from her native Chinese, highlighting how these people aren’t really speaking to one another in a direct manner. I almost wanted more of this playful spirit, more of a sense that these are two people who become embroiled in a dangerous situation who can never really see each other through “ The Mist ,” which happens to be the name of Seo-rae’s favorite song.

Park is consistently juggling fascinating ideas in at least the back half of “Decision to Leave,” and he’s undeniably sharp in terms of craft, but he’s often, especially in the first half, restrained by the very familiar plot of the cop who tries to save the wrong suspect, a movie we have seen roughly 80 times. And even when he starts to unleash his storytelling, I feel like there’s a dirtier, less polished version of “Decision to Leave,” maybe one that Park would have made earlier in his career, that feels like more of a gut punch and less of a formal exercise. The latter is fun enough to recommend. The former is where great movies decide to stay.

This review was published on September 9th from the Toronto International Film Festival. It opens on October 14 th .

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

Tang Wei as Seo-rae
Park Hae-Il as Hae-joon
Lee Jung-hyun as Jung-an
Park Yong-woo as Lim Ho-shin
Go Kyung-pyo as Soo-wan
Kim Shin-young as Yeon-su
Cho Young-wuk
Chung Seo-kyung
Park Chan-wook

Cinematographer

Kim Ji-yong
Kim Sang-bum

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‘Decision to Leave’ Review: A Labyrinth of Desire

Park Chan-wook’s latest, about a forlorn detective falling for his beautiful suspect, is an exuberant, destabilizing take on a classic film noir setup.

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By Manohla Dargis

One of the many pleasures of the feverish “Decision to Leave” is that the director Park Chan-wook clearly had as much fun making the movie as you will have watching it. A heady, baroque mystery infused with the kind of old-fashioned romantic fatalism that makes noir-darkened hearts flutter, it is a story of impossible love — though even a determined admirer may wonder if it’s also impossible to get a handle on this sly, ingeniously slippery movie.

Never fear, though, as someone once cautioned me about visiting Venice, you will get lost. But navigating a mystery’s enigmas, sifting through its clues and unlocking its secrets are what draw us to stories like this, and here, even if you find yourself at an apparent dead end, Park will guide you back on track. Both times that I’ve seen “Decision to Leave” I questioned whether the movie was overly addled or I was, both being possible. Who’s the lovelorn gangster, I wondered. What does this or that plot kink have to do with the mystery woman? And why does one detective keep thumping his partner with an electric massager?

Park drops you into the movie so abruptly that you would be forgiven for thinking that you had missed the first 15 minutes (or a prequel). As the staccato of bullets fills the soundtrack, a flurry of rapidly deployed scenes zip by, and the movie jumps from two detectives shooting at an indoor firing range and chatting, and then working a case and talking some more. The opening draws you right in with its destabilizing jump cuts, controlled freneticism, narrative ellipses and oddball swerves — cut to a fog-wreathed discussion about insomnia — which creates an inviting ambiguity. It’s unclear what’s happening; it will remain unclear for a while.

There’s a dead body, of course, which soon materializes with the first glints of the main story. While hiking, a man has died under suspicious circumstances, leaving a broken watch and beautiful widow, Seo-rae (Tang Wei, wonderful), who’s called in for questioning by the two detectives. The lead investigator, the sleep-challenged Hae-joon (Park Hae-il), is instantly and conspicuously drawn to her. By contrast, the other detective, Soo-wan (Go Kyung-pyo), the guy with the electric massager, is more leery, harshly noting that she doesn’t seem especially upset by her husband’s death. Hae-joon replies that his wife wouldn’t be either, a revelatory comment about a man who proves more complicated than he appears.

Hae-joon puts Seo-rae under surveillance and before long, in classic old Hollywood detective fashion, he falls for her, hard. He trails and watches her, tracking her every move whether she’s at work (she’s a caregiver for older, housebound patients) or at home with her cat and droning TV. Sometimes, he imagines himself in Seo-rae’s apartment — you see him there, too — where he hovers near her, almost within kissing distance. And when she falls asleep sitting on her couch, eyes closed as a column of smoldering ash precariously droops from her cigarette, he also imagines himself holding an ashtray under its burning tip.

Sometimes a dying cigarette isn’t just a cigarette, but an intimation of later smolder and ash. While Hae-joon’s solicitousness toward Seo-rae can read as sweetly considerate (or stalker-ish), his investigation rapidly morphs into fascination and then life-changing, brain-fogging obsession. Under the cover of his detective work, he insinuates himself into Seo-rae’s life — or does she coax him in? — until they’re sharing rooms, meals and rainy walks. He loves her, but even as they grow close, he remains distrustful. From the start, he has decided who she is, putting her in a box, an idea that Park literalizes at one point with a shocking, gasp-inducing shot of her seated alone in the multiple square-shaped rooms of her apartment.

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Decision to Leave Reviews

While this mingling of crime and romance plots reveals the stern policeman to be a fundamentally fallible person, it also underscores the problems inherent in police work.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 20, 2024

Director Park weaves many clever motifs and symbolic imagery into his film to heighten the tension and keep up the storm of anxiety as the characters’ clashing duties and wants threaten to finally meet.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 15, 2024

It’s a tale told in yearning glances and whispered half-truths, one where the words “I did it” and “I love you” always seem to be just out of reach.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 4, 2024

Unlike once great directors whose vision becomes stale, repetitive, and predictable, Park is always raising the bar for himself and setting the new standard for those behind him. His work is always fresh, and I love that he keeps pushing himself

Full Review | Jun 8, 2024

In a tender cat-and-mouse game, Park Chan-wook plays around with his favourite themes of a forbidden romance at the intersection of a murder mystery.

Full Review | Jan 23, 2024

It's admirable how Park Chan-wook states that violence is expressed in different ways. In this case, it will be neither guns, nor blood, but love, which will stain the retinas of the viewers with red. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Dec 19, 2023

Park Chan-Wook’s police procedural is one of the most romantic films ever made.

Full Review | Nov 2, 2023

Park Chan-wook takes a classic tale of star-crossed lovers and gives it a new spin in this murder-mystery romance saga of a detective falling for his suspect.

Full Review | Sep 13, 2023

A sequence of Hae-joon and Seo-rae eating a premium sushi dinner in an investigation room and then cleaning it up as they have done it together all their lives might be the sexiest scene of the year.

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

Park manages to invoke the styles of Wong Kar-wai and Alfred Hitchcock in the same breath. A mix of film noir and sensual love story, a tale of revenge and violence neatly tied together with love.

Full Review | Jul 24, 2023

Decision to Leave has Park Chan-wook’s signature brutality and sexpionage, but they’ve been placed in the background, focusing instead on the tender romanticism that is as explosive as the violence.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jul 21, 2023

Decision to Leave has the South Korean director at his most restrained narrative-wise, yet that doesn’t affect the prowess of his directorial abilities nor the thematic expansiveness of the story at hand.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jul 19, 2023

Style is the name of the exposition game[....] What’s a little murder in the face of true love?

Full Review | Jul 11, 2023

Cinema at its purest with subterranean emotions simmering underneath the story. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Jun 6, 2023

Chan-wook Park achieves an extraordinary resolution, combining natural elevations and intimate abysses with lyricism and profound beauty. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | May 8, 2023

By the time it works its way to its tragic conclusion, Decision to Leave has spun a fully immersive web of romantic intrigue that demonstrates without doubt that Park is just as good in a restrained mode as he is when he lets it all fly.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 27, 2023

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 15, 2023

Park Chan Woo wraps the mystery in sumptuous visuals, ranging from his attractive looking stars to locations in the Busan area, including scenic beach fronts and a mystical temple.

Full Review | Mar 2, 2023

A detective thriller noir that tries to get you to feel something for its flawed protagonists. But they’re a little too quiet.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 20, 2023

Park Chan-wook gives us the most romantic movie of 2022, about insomniac homicide detective Jang Hae-jun (Park Hae-il) who becomes obsessed with caregiver and potential mariticide candidate Song Seo-rae (Tang Wei).

Full Review | Feb 17, 2023

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In Decision to Leave , Park Chan-wook Pulls Back

In the films of Park Chan-wook, form follows not function but emotion. The Korean director is known for his exuberantly stylized films, which contain startling (and often gorgeous) camera moves and compositions that work as outward correlatives for the characters’ inner lives. In his previous feature, The Handmaiden (2016), which might be his masterpiece, the intricate and interlocking sets reflected the characters’ multilayered duplicity, the sense that everyone in that film was creating a false reality for others to inhabit (not unlike the director himself). This is just one of many qualities that make Park one of the great artists of our time. He astounds you with his images, yes, but in your astonishment you also find yourself trapped inside the heads of his protagonists. He is, perhaps, the last great Expressionist.

Decision to Leave has been billed as something of a departure for the director, and that is partially correct. The new picture displays little of the graphic qualities that have earned Park the somewhat dismissive title of provocateur . That’s not to say that these elements are not there. The story, at least on paper, thrums with violence and desire; it’s just that it’s all been buried. An insomniac police detective, Hae-jun (Park Hae-il), is called to a scene: An aging climber has been found dead at the base of a cliff that he’d traversed many times. The man’s wife, a Chinese immigrant named Seo-rae (Tang Wei), doesn’t appear to demonstrate the requisite amount of grief, so suspicion starts to gather around her. The married Hae-jun, however, is immediately taken with this beautiful, mysterious woman, and his investigation soon becomes an obsessive surveillance with no goal in sight. He doesn’t want her to be guilty, and seems eager to prove that she’s not – but he also doesn’t want to drop the case and lose her.

There’s a lot more to the story, including an interesting mid-movie twist of sorts, but Park’s real interest here is, of course, the tangled, tender relationship that develops between Hae-jun and Seo-rae. And while Decision to Leave is nowhere near as florid as Park’s other films, the director finds an intriguing stylistic correlative for Hae-jun’s obsession by occasionally placing the two characters in the same room together even when they’re apart in the real world. From his car, Hae-jun watches Seo-rae in her apartment, but he imagines himself there with her, which is also how we see the scene. Phone conversations are played out in the same location. At one point, we see Hae-jun climbing the rock face where Seo-rae’s husband fell; we see her climbing as well. Is it an intercutting flashback, a projection, a dream, a nightmare? Is it, somehow, all of these things? Regardless, it’s a dizzying way to let us drift within the delirium of Hae-jun’s adoration of Seo-rae; we lose our sense of reality along with him. On that level, the movie is not that much of a departure after all. Park still wants us to inhabit his characters’ psychological realities.

At least, that’s the idea. At times, Decision to Leave seems too stylistically clever for its own good. Park gets the disorientation of obsession right — but not, perhaps, the yearning, the solitude, the … actual obsession. Constantly seeing this man and this woman together, we don’t sense any absence or longing. A beautifully acted scene where Hae-jun and Seo-rae wander around a Buddhist temple and effectively confess their feelings for one another loses some of its power because we can’t really access the exhilaration of their togetherness. We might be watching the emotional high-point of a different movie.

The story feels disjointed as well, as if Park might be two steps ahead of himself. In committing to a more restrained approach, he’s forgotten that the film still needs to work on some basic level as a narrative experience and a character study. Supposedly a dogged investigator, Hae-jun mostly seems bewildered and exhausted, with the wide sleepless eyes of an insomniac which he regularly douses with drops. But the character never breaks free of his logline. Park has given him traits rather than dimensions. He has a ridiculous amount of pockets. He keeps a wall full of carefully arranged, grisly photos from open cases. He gets ill at the sight of blood. He is meticulous, always making sure not to touch anything at a crime scene with his bare fingers. It’s all quite symbolic — like a checklist of items from Hae-jun’s life that Seo-rae will surely (and somewhat schematically) transform.

Meanwhile, the investigation itself, the initial suspicion of murder as well as the later revelations that supposedly drive the film, turns on a series of dimes. The husband’s death looks like an open and shut case even if his wife doesn’t seem outwardly devastated by the loss. (She’s got a decent explanation for it, by the way.) In other words, Decision to Leave is fairly unconvincing as a procedural. Perhaps that’s a churlish or pointless criticism. Genre is not the film’s primary intent; like Vertigo , it wants to be mostly a mood piece. But Park takes enough care in the way he lays out the basics of the story that it’s clear he understands the policier is the armature around which he’s built this tale of obsession and forbidden love. And sadly, the armature is rickety this time around.

What we’re left with, ultimately, is a fragmentary and occasionally alienating journey that nevertheless provides some genuinely lovely sequences, not the least of which is a finale that’s so haunting it almost saves the entire picture. Most of all, we’re left with Tang Wei’s beautiful performance. Appropriate to the film’s intentions, her Seo-rae is all undercurrents and contradictions. She’s outwardly obsequious, but playful underneath. Fragility and resolve dance across her face. She seems capable of both intense tenderness and intense cruelty. There isn’t much chemistry between her and Hae-jun, but maybe there doesn’t need to be. Watching the movie, it’s hard not to become a little captivated with her ourselves.

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Decision to Leave REVIEW – Absolutely Immaculate

The only decision to make is to watch Decision to Leave.

Park Chan-wook’s filmography is an impressive one. With films like Oldboy, Stoker, and The Handmaiden under his belt, it’s no wonder Decision to Leave is so polished and remarkable. Since the streaming era began, we’ve been inundated with a deluge of films every week, so much so that I’ve forgotten how utterly gripping a good film can be. Decision to Leave, even with its 138 minute runtime, never lost an ounce of my attention, not even for a second. It’s a masterclass in filmmaking, and one of the best films of 2022.

As the movie begins, we’re introduced to Hae-joon (Park Hae-il), a seasoned detective who always has a stack of murder cases and suffers from insomnia. Obviously the two are related, but the man is obsessed with his job and can’t seem to walk away, choosing to stay in Busan even though his wife lives hours away.

Hae-joon is called in to solve an incident involving a man’s fall from a mountain. Was it an accident? The man was a seasoned climber, so it’s a bit strange that he would be so clumsy on a mountain he’s scaled before. Could it be suicide? There’s no evidence to suggest that, but not enough to rule it out. Perhaps it’s murder, since the man’s wife Seo-rae (Tang Wei) doesn’t seem surprised about his death, nor is she very upset.

Seo-rae is beautiful but what intrigues Hae-joon is the air of mystery that surrounds her. What is her role in her husband’s death? Is she as fascinated with him as he is with her? This desire to know her perspective leads to this constant surveillance of her, and Park Chan-wook cleverly builds intimacy between the pair by having Hae-joon imagine himself in Seo-rae’s vicinity while he’s watching her. She too seems eager to know him, following him during his pursuit of a suspect, encouraging his surveillance of her.

This creates a rising tension and builds an erotically-charged atmosphere, where any subtle gesture – like a lip bite or the adjustment of a belt – sends our blood soaring. Jo Yeong wook’s score is equal doses sensual and anxiety-inducing, an apt reflection of the film’s core themes of sex, romance and violence.

The editing is immaculate, with the constant shifts in perspective held together by match cuts. Its structure is classic film noir, yet the style’s so fresh, and there’s a honesty in Hae-joon and Seo-rae’s relationship despite the lies and manipulation. Despite its darker themes, Decision to Leave is first and foremost a love story. It paints for us the irrational nature of love, the heights we would go for it, and the morals we would relinquish to preserve it.

Park Hae-il is a seasoned leading man. He does an excellent job portraying Hae-joon’s transition from confident cop to broken man. Tang Wei matches him beat for beat, giving her femme fatale role a certain nuance, as we catch flashes of the tenderness she feels for the people she cares for.

In the end, why do we decide to leave the people we love? Perhaps a desire for self-protection, or to in some way benefit the people we love. Or maybe we leave so they will be forever haunted by us. We want our absence to creep under their skin and stay there, so they will never be able to let us go.

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Decision to Leave (2022) Movie Review – A wonderful Korean neo-noir romantic mystery

A wonderful Korean neo-noir romantic mystery

With a Korean director and both Korean and Chinese cast, Decision to Leave manages to feel so very… French. From the far-from-subtle sound effects to the classic thriller soundtrack, the sepia-toned mood and the quick flips in time. This neo-noir romantic mystery has a personality of its own.

The building block plot doesn’t waste a single scene. Everything is subtly telling us something, preventing us from getting so involved in the storyline that we miss out on our job as viewers. Denied the liberty of watching passively, there’s little opportunity for relief. Perfect Academy fodder, no?

Sound effects act as an additional lead character, full volume breaking through at the most unexpected of moments. Such as a scene (that could have easily been a mental rest) where Hae-jun is gutting a large fish, likely another of his wife’s miracle cures for reviving desire. The sound of the long swipe and organs squishing out are almost louder than the dialogue and definitely speaking truths.

There’s nothing happy about this film, for us or the fish, but it is certainly compelling. Like Rubens’ depiction of perpetual torture in Prometheus Bound , we cannot look away. Although murder is front and center, the revulsion comes from detailed scenes and sounds that are rarely part of the main action but set to amplify, pointing our attention like a dream suddenly turned lucid.

Award winning prior to its cinema release, Decision to Leave took Best Director for Park Chan-wook in the Palme d’Or at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. It’s also South Korea’s Oscar entry for Best International Feature Film, to be determined in March.

Verging on the obsessive, Detective Hae-jun works murder cases, unable to let go until they’re solved to his satisfaction. While investigating a suspicious death, he becomes both sceptical of and interested in the deceased’s wife, Seo-rae.

With a long-distance slow-dry marriage and growing preoccupation with the suspect, he begins to unravel as he questions his own integrity – his definition of self. During endless bouts of sleeplessness, you can practically hear him think aloud ‘what in the hell am I doing?’ In unison, we’re asking that same question.

South Korean director, screenwriter and producer Park Chan-wook is best known for films The Handmaiden (Prime, AppleTV), Oldboy (Prime) and the English-language Stoker (Disney+). Known for beautiful cinematography and framing, black humor and often brutal subject matter, he’s attained the trifecta with Decision to Leave . Cinematographer Kim Ji-yong brings it all together, known for notables including The Fortress (Prime) and Okja (Netflix).

Tang Wei plays the questionable Seo-rae, Chinese wife of the victim. She’s won multiple accolades across her career for films including Long Day’s Journey into Night (YouTube), The Golden Era (Prime) and Finding Mr Right . By turns, she appears calculating or pathetic, a victim or maybe not to much. Seo-rae drives the action, even when she’s not on screen or even in the same town.

Detective Hae-jun is brought to life by Park Hae-il, recognised for his work in The Fortress (Prime), Whistle Blower and The Last Princess . As Hae-jun, he follows – for perhaps the first time in his long-suffering but duty-fuelled career.

Lee Jung-hyun is an ALS-style bucket of cold water as Hae-jun’s now clinical and cold but long-suffering wife, ready to shut down anything that’s not pre-approved or endorsed. In a way, she’s more committed to material proof than her husband.

It’s a little disappointing that Go Kyung-pyo as Soo-wan didn’t have a meatier role, with a pointed event that doesn’t really go anywhere. One of the few strands not followed through. But it seems that there was literally no room for anyone beyond the key players, the main story and its detail so overwhelming.

The title in Korean is translated literally as decision to break up, which has a slightly different connotation. Leaving feels like the forward motion of the story whilst breaking up is quite specific, maybe more of a give-away than we’d ultimately like.

Decision to Leave is in cinemas now

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Decision To Leave Review

Decision To Leave

It's near impossible to watch Decision To Leave without memories of Basic Instinct ice-picking their way into your mind. The film may be set in misty South Korea instead of foggy San Francisco, but present and correct is a rumpled, obsessive police detective, plus an enigmatic, mesmerising female suspect who might just be kill-crazy. Yes, this is an erotic cop thriller. Fortunately, though, it’s a Park Chan-wook erotic cop thriller. So, as well as there being zero dance-offs in naff jumpers, the end result is a stunningly shot, cleverly orchestrated and psychologically nimble tale, which single-handedly revitalises one of the hoariest subgenres of all.

Park Hae-il is terrific as lead character Hae-joon, an investigator whose face droops with weariness and paperwork-induced ennui. Returning home each evening for a sleepless night, to lie in bed next to a wife who views sex as a health benefit (“We need to do it every week,” she informs him post-coitus, “even when we hate each other”), he only starts to spark back to life when Seo-rae (Tang Wei) lands up in his interrogation room. But it’s Tang who saunters away with the film. Playing a live-wire walking question mark, flitting language-wise between Korean and her native Chinese, and vibe-wise between softness and menace, the Lust, Caution star casts as much of a spell over the camera as Seo-rae does over Hae-joon. The resulting pas de deux is hypnotic, the pair circling each other slowly, in an entanglement that’s part murder investigation, part swooning romance — plenty of lust and no caution — seemingly headed nowhere good.

Park’s at the top of his game here technically, employing precise editing and audaciously inventive camerawork to pull us into his characters’ minds.

By director Park’s usual standards, this is dialled-down stuff. There are no octopus tentacles writhing out of human mouths ( Oldboy ), no glimpses of sadistic pornography ( The Handmaiden ), no vampires shrieking as they burst into flames ( Thirst ). What flashes of sex and violence the film has are brief and ungaudy: a glimpse of Seo-rae’s thigh as she lifts her dress to show Hae-joon an injury, a brawl with a runaway suspect (chainmail gloves, it seems, are standard-issue police equipment in South Korea). But it turns out that Park doesn’t need wild excess to make a murder-mystery compelling. He’s at the top of his game here technically, employing precise editing and audaciously inventive camerawork to pull us into his characters’ minds. As Hae-joon loses his emotional bearings, his yearnings begin to bleed into the visuals, fantasies blurring into reality, the detective appearing in frames where he shouldn’t be. There’s also a very smart shot from inside a smartphone. It’s a masterclass in subjective storytelling.

The plot, which revolves heavily around apps and phone-screens, requires a lot of focus. And compared to the powerhouse first hour and crackerjack ending, the middle section occasionally feels baggy. But it’s still a tremendous shot of pure Park — suave, sophisticated and sexy. Not to mention very possibly the best erotic cop thriller ever. Sorry, Sharon and Michael.

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Decision To Leave Ending Explained: How It Gets To The Final Choice

It's not what's said. It's what's done.

Tang Wei and Park Hae-il in Decision to Leave

Decision to Leave creates a haunting love story that’s both profoundly beautiful and mesmerizingly tragic. The Decision to Leave ending leaves viewers aimlessly digging for more. It sparks conversations and begs for in-depth analysis.

Park Chan-wook’s latest film premiered in the US in October. It’s been making its way around the festival circuit by appearing at the Toronto International Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Fantastic Fest Film Festival, and many more. The film has also been shown in limited theaters across North America.

And as of December 9, the movie can be found streaming on Mubi . ( Find it streaming here .)

Decision to Leave was one of the highly anticipated upcoming movies because of Park Chan-wook’s reputation as an enchanting and exciting filmmaker. Its bending of genres—sometimes it's one of the great psychological thrillers and other times one of the great romance movies—makes it a must-watch film.

Let’s dive into that Decision to Leave ending.

Warning Decision to Leave Spoilers Ahead. Proceed with caution.

What Happened At The End Of Decision To Leave?

After Cheol-seong aka Slappy (Seo Hyun-woo) confesses to the murder of Ho-shin (Park Yong-woo), Hae-jun (Park Hae-il) realizes Seo-rae’s (Tang Wei) involvement in her husband’s murder. She kills Slappy’s mother so that he will seek revenge on Ho-shin.

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Hae-jun calls Seo-rae to confront her about the murder. She admits everything and says that Ho-shin heard the recording of him confessing his love for her. This confuses Hae-jun because he never confessed to loving her.

Seo-rae drives to a beach and begins to dig holes in the sand. Meanwhile, Hae-jun finds her abandoned car and plays the recording. It’s from the night when he confronts Seo-rae about killing her first husband. On the audio recording, Hae-jun gives her instructions to dispose of the evidence, including to throw the phone deep in the sea where no one will find it.

On the beach, Seo-rae stands in one of her sand holes as she waits for the tide to wash in and bury her in the sand. Hae-jun finally arrives on the beach calling Seo-rae. He searches and searches until he repeats his own instructions about burying the phone so deep in the sea that no one can find it. Then he continues to search for her.

How Hae-jun Tells Seo-rea That He Loves Her

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times , Park Chan-woo said that his goal in making Decision to Leave was “to make a love story that does not say the words, ‘I love you.’’ The film is all about what’s not said but observed. During the scene where Hae-jun confronts Seo-rae about killing her first husband, he brings up how she complimented him on his honor. He equates that to the way he conducts himself as a police officer.

Park also told The Guardian that he wanted to create a police officer free of the hardness that we often see in films about law and order . He took inspiration from the Martin Beck detective series.

Hae-jun’s identity is very much wrapped up in his ability to do his job well and with honor. He’s a police officer free of corruption until he falls for Seo-rae. He’s so infatuated with her that he ignores evidence pointing to her involvement in the crime. He then commits the ultimate sin as a law enforcer, he aids her in covering up the murder.

Hae-jun tells her how to destroy evidence. Sacrificing everything he holds dear (his pride, integrity, honor, confidence, effectiveness, etc.) to protect her, it’s the ultimate act of love. He doesn’t have to say I love you. His betraying his own sense of self makes an even more powerful statement of love than the phrase ‘I love you.’

It may take a while for Hae-jun to connect this action as a declaration of love, but Seo-rae sees and understands it.

Why Seo-Rae Makes The Decision To Drown

One of the major themes in a Decision to Leave is restraint. The characters hold themselves back from saying or acting on their true feelings. Seo-rae’s final act is another example of restraint coming into play. She methodically plans her death. The moment she arrives in Ipo, it’s all part of a larger plan to die.

She also picks a way to die that involves patience. She must sit and wait for her fate, instead of taking a quick or more dramatic death.

At one point in Decision to Leave , Seo-rae tells Hae-jun that she has come to Ipo to become one of his unsolved cases. By being buried in the sea, it’s a call back to him telling her to throw the evidence somewhere no one will ever find it. It also makes her forever an unsolved case. He likely will never find her body. Therefore, he will continue to wonder if she ran off somewhere or died.

In many ways, her remaining an unresolved case is her way of saying I love you back. She never wants him to forget her. She wants to always occupy his mind and memory. Sometimes love is most momentous when it’s unforgettable.

Drowning also allows her to finally escape.

She has now committed four murders. Despite loving her, Hae-jun seems destroyed by the fact that he let her get away with murder. It’s highly unlikely that he would let her get away with it twice. If he arrests her, he condemns her to imprisonment. Hae-jun would also probably remain haunted by this choice. There is no happy ending for them, and Seo-rae will not have freedom while she is alive.

In an EW interview, Park Chan-wook had this to say about Seo-rae’s final decision to leave:

I don't want the audience to think that Seo-rae sacrificed herself to prevent a man from ruining his career or his marriage, that she disappeared for the man. Instead, she has chosen a personal way for herself, and this is her method of liberation and to attain freedom for herself. That's how I want the audience to think of the ending.

Seo-rae isn’t dying to free Hae-jun, but to free herself. She also wants to leave him forever haunted by his love for her.

Love And Obsession In Decision To Leave

Obsession and love are intertwined in Decision to Leave. Many great film love stories involve some level of obsession.

Hae-jun and Seo-rae share a passionate obsession with each other, but maybe at different moments in their relationship. Towards the Decision to Leave ending, Seo-rae tells Hae-jun that when his love died, hers began. I don’t think either character ever stopped loving the other, but, I think she didn’t realize that her feelings for him were genuine until he decided to leave her and tell her how to bury the evidence.

One of the reasons why I believe that they’re so obsessed with each other is because both aren’t sure how the other feels. He doesn’t know if she’s trying to manipulate him to get away with her crimes. At the beginning, that plays a part in their interactions. She knows he loves her, but doesn’t know if he can love her. She says as much when they’re on the mountain together. Men like him won’t love her.

He then proves this by showing that he can’t let go of the suspect and police officer dynamic.

In another Los Angeles Times article, Park Chan-woo points out that when someone first falls in love, they look for evidence that the person loves them back. Part of their obsessions and voyeuristic approach to their relationship is the desire to understand one another. They need to know each other so intimately and deeply that they understand them in a way no one else does.

Some of the greatest movies about love are also stories of intense desire and loss of sanity because of a mutual (or one-sided) obsession.

Fully falling for someone involves a little bit of obsession and madness. It’s when it takes over one's life that it becomes a problem. Both Seo-rae and Hae-jun let their obsession and love for one another overpower them. However, he is the only one who will forever remain obsessed and in love with her. She frees herself from that cycle of longing.

The Decision to Leave ending wraps up the film in a messy bow that feels fitting for the story and true to Park Chan-wook’s aesthetic and filmmaking style.

Decision to Leave does so much right , including creating an unforgettable ending. It is one of Park Chan-wook’s best films.

Stream Decision to Leave on Mubi starting December 9.

Spent most of my life in various parts of Illinois, including attending college in Evanston. I have been a life long lover of pop culture, especially television, turned that passion into writing about all things entertainment related. When I'm not writing about pop culture, I can be found channeling Gordon Ramsay by kicking people out the kitchen.

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Decision to Leave Ending Explained (Detailed Analysis)

We discuss and provide an analysis of the ending of the film Decision to Leave, which will contain spoilers and major plot twists.

Yes, the premise of Decision to Leave is nothing new. A man meets a woman, a woman meets a man, and guess what? Love hurts. However, in the romance, a detective falls for the widow of the death he is investigating. Det. Jang Hae-jun (an outstanding Park Hae-il ) is the lead on the case. His team is looking into the death of a retired immigration worker. What makes the case strange is the man is found dead at the edge of a mountain cliff that is nearly impossible to climb. Everything about this case screams accidental death. However, Hae-jun cannot shake his gut feeling that something is wrong with the death. Or he cannot stop thinking of the prime suspect in ways other than criminal.

The main suspect in his murder investigation is Song Seo-rae (a deadly effective Tang Wei ). She is the beautiful and much younger wife of the deceased. There is something just off about her. She has physical bruises and scratches. Seo-rae is almost cold and too composed about her husband’s death, but if it wasn’t a happy marriage, then why should she cry? One piece of evidence that could be telling is that she has a tattoo marked with her husband’s initials. Why is that strange? On the surface, it’s an expression of love that is commonplace.

However, looking closely, this is done in the same fashion as when someone marks their own property. Hae-jun finds out she left China because she was charged with the murder of her mother. Why did she kill her? Because her mother was sick, the authorities didn’t see it the same way. However, he then finds a letter that indicates her husband committed suicide, thus, clearing her of the crime.

During Det. Jang Hae-jun’s investigation, simultaneously, she is planting some seeds of seduction to escape in case Hae-jun solves the case. His lovely obsession is a healthcare worker looking over an older adult woman. She figures out his investigation parallels his obsession with her, stalking, if you will. “Bring me the heart of that kind detective,” she says to herself when she knows he is watching her from afar. Since the case is closed, they begin to date, and it is revealed the detective suffers from crippling insomnia over cases in which he has a wall of evidence dedicated to her husband’s case. She manipulates him into burning it all. Unfortunately, Jang figures out later what happened.

Who is the killer in the movie Decision to Leave?

Song switched out the phones of the woman she cared for on the day of suicide. She took the older adult’s phone and placed hers in the room while she was sleeping and suffering from dementia. The device showed the older adult walking up 138 flights on the day of the murder, which means Song was climbing the mountain to kill her husband. She arrived before her abuser did. He reached the top, and Song pushed him, making it look like he had ended his life.

When Jang confronts Song, he is heartbroken, but she was expecting this. She is expecting him to arrest her, and she has been recording him to use as blackmail if the predicament ever comes up. Looking ever so satisfied as her plan was working, she is taken aback by his gesture and does something unexpected. Jang gives her a new cell phone to switch out and the evidence to discard. While he was discovering a love he did not think possible, it became shattered. While she felt that kind of love was never possible, her cynical heart was awoken, and she figured out what love is.

They meet 13 months later when Song is dating a trade and investment expert. (Think Mad Money’s, Jim Cramer). That man turns up dead, and Jang suspects Song of the murder. However, a man she worked for killed him, who goes by the name “Slappy,” which is evident if you watch the film. Why? Slappy’s mother invested her life savings in the expert’s opinion, and she lost it all. She triggers the action by slipping drugs to Slappy’s mother because he promises to kill Song’s husband when she dies. Jang figures this out and tracks his former lover through an application that Slappy put on her phone, which leads him to a beach.

How does the movie Decision to Leave end?

To save Jang from himself, she leaves a recording that she leaves him and the phone that recorded him admitting to the affair and destroying evidence. When he tracks her car to the beach, where is Song? She digs a large hole, almost a grave in the beach, with the dug-up sand near the head of the grave, right behind her. She then waits for the tide to come in. As she lies at the bottom, the water rushes in and brings the sand back to its original resting place, burying her alive.

What does the ending of Decision to Leave mean?

As a genuine gesture of Song’s love for Jang, she commits suicide. However, Song also tells him that “maybe she came back to Ipo to become one of his unresolved cases.” The kind that kept him up all night with insomnia. It was Song’s perfect murder that Jang will never be able to solve and ensure that this will haunt Jang for the rest of his life.

What did you think of the ending of the film Decision to Leave? Comment below.

Article by Marc Miller

Marc Miller (also known as M.N. Miller) joined Ready Steady Cut in April 2018 as a Film and TV Critic, publishing over 1,600 articles on the website. Since a young age, Marc dreamed of becoming a legitimate critic and having that famous “Rotten Tomato” approved status – in 2023, he achieved that status.

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Decision to leave.

Common Sense Says
Parents Say 1 Review
Kids Say 0 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Dark Korean crime drama has violence, language, sex.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 15+?

Police officers handle firearms. One is fired at a suspect fleeing arrest. Discu

Discussions about consensual and non-consensual sex. Couple lie in bed together,

Language used (in the English subtitles) includes "f--k," "s--t," "ass," "bastar

Character makes luxury purchases, such as high-end sushi. Some characters are we

Character smokes cigarettes. One character drinks to excess. Others drink in mod

Any Positive Content?

The majority of the cast is Korean, but one of the lead characters is Chinese. M

The movie is a dark crime drama. Some characters work hard, are dedicated to the

Hae-joon is shown to be a hardworking law enforcement officer, but like many of

Violence & Scariness

Police officers handle firearms. One is fired at a suspect fleeing arrest. Discussion of violent deaths, coroners' inquests, and assaults. Dead bodies shown, some decomposition. Character allows police to photograph violent injuries. Reference to sexual assault. Punches and kicks in altercations. Some bloody injury. More than one character falls to their death -- one is shown doing so. Male character repeatedly hits a female. Bloody injuries. Character stabbed to death. No strong blood or gore. Suicide implied. Death by drowning implied but not shown.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Discussions about consensual and non-consensual sex. Couple lie in bed together, bare shoulders shown above sheets. Sex scene shows intercourse but no graphic nudity. Shirtless nudity. Kissing.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Language used (in the English subtitles) includes "f--k," "s--t," "ass," "bastard," and "damn."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Character makes luxury purchases, such as high-end sushi. Some characters are wealthy, live in luxurious homes, and shop for expensive possessions.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Character smokes cigarettes. One character drinks to excess. Others drink in moderation. Reference to taking drugs, death by overdose.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Diverse Representations

The majority of the cast is Korean, but one of the lead characters is Chinese. More than one language spoken. Gender balance across main roles. Korean writers and director. Male-female writing team. Some discussion of suicide and well-being.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Positive Messages

The movie is a dark crime drama. Some characters work hard, are dedicated to their job, and are loyal to others. But others are not. Not all criminals in the story are brought to justice.

Positive Role Models

Hae-joon is shown to be a hardworking law enforcement officer, but like many of the lead characters he is prone to lapses in judgment. Seo-rae is morally ambiguous, with her recalling of events often questioned. Characters lie and some exhibit violent behavior.

Parents need to know that Decision to Leave is a Korean-language crime drama about a police detective who becomes entangled with a woman suspected of murdering her husband. The attraction between Detective Jang Hae-joon (Park Hae-il) and suspect Song Seo-rae ( Tang Wei ) causes the former to abandon his better judgment as a police detective, while the latter is frequently suspected of being unreliable and dishonest. As a result the movie is a dark thriller with some comic moments, where there are no traditional heroes or positive messages. The plot revolves around more than one murder, so there are frequent references to violence and more than one death is alleged to have been a suicide. There are also fights, which include domestic violence that result in bloody injury. Language and sex are both minor, with a couple of uses of "f--k" (in the English subtitles) and one sex scene that is not explicit. One character smokes on occasion and another is criticized for doing so. Drinking is mostly in moderation although one character drinks to excess. There is some discussion of a fentanyl overdose and it being administered as euthanasia. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Parent and Kid Reviews

Parents say (1)

Based on 1 parent review

A beautiful and tragic murder mystery

What's the story.

DECISION TO LEAVE follows the complicated relationship between police officer Jang Hae-joon (Park Hae-il) and murder suspect Song Seo-rae ( Tang Wei ).

Is It Any Good?

This dark and occasionally dark-humored crime drama scooped the best director prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and it's not difficult to see why. Painstakingly constructed by its director and co-writer Park Chan-wook , Decision to Leave is an unhurried look at the harm done by different types of toxic relationships. The unraveling of workaholic detective Hae-joon is shown in stages, his infatuation with femme-fatale Seo-rae slowly chipping away at both his personal and professional judgment.

Its crawling pace and repressed emotion can be stifling at times, though, and the movie's second half deliberately repeats elements of its first, which makes for a long, winding road along which we confirm our worst fears about everybody involved. But the finale is ruthless in delivering a killer blow. No one here is blameless by the end, but Park's vivid visual compositions and nimble flashbacks make it impossible to look away or predict what's coming next.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the violence in Decision to Leave . What was the difference between the violence committed by men and the violence committed by women? How did it make you feel? What's the impact of media violence on kids?

Discuss the relationship between the two leads. How did their affair harm them both and the people around them? Why is loyalty and trust in relationships important? Parents, talk to your teens about your own values regarding sex and relationships.

Talk about Seo-rae's Chinese nationality. How was her life different from the Korean characters' lives?

Talk about some of the language used. Did it seem necessary or excessive? What did it contribute to the movie?

Movie Details

In theaters : October 14, 2022
On DVD or streaming : February 14, 2023
Cast : Park Hae-il , Tang Wei , Lee Jung-hyun
Director : Park Chan-wook
Inclusion Information : Asian directors, Female actors, Asian writers
Studio : MUBI
Genre : Drama
Run time : 139 minutes
MPAA rating : NR
Last updated : June 19, 2023

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Decision to Leave Discussion

I recently saw Decision to leave and thought it was the best movie I have seen this year so far. So enigmatic, subtle and meticulous. It stuns me not more people are talking about this and I think this is Korea's best shot at winning the Foreign Language Oscar after Burning even thought they should have been nominated countless other times. Would love to hear more thoughts about the movie and the themes from the people who watched it.

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Decision To Leave

The Plot: Married Police Detective Hae-jun (Park Hae-il) is a stickler for detail and like the Mounties, he always gets his man… or woman. He investigates the death of a man in a mountain climbing incident – an apparent accident or possible suicide. The late man’s Chinese wife Seo-rae (Tang Wei) is unconcerned about his death, expecting it to happen one day or another. She has an alibi too. As he digs deeper into the case, he becomes drawn to Seo-rae and finds a kindred spirit. He’s not sure whether she’s innocent of her husband’s death or whether she’s a black widow ensnaring him in her web…

The Verdict: After some outings in the TV and short film worlds, Park Chan-wook is back on the big screen doing what he does best – weaving together a character-driven story about death, murder, romantic obsession and the gray area between finding justice and the truth. It’s no surprise then to learn that Decision To Leave scooped up the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year (for once, the festival got it right). It’s a typically intricate and involving police procedural from Park, combined with a Hitchcockian flair that recalls the spiralling crescendo of that director’s masterpiece Vertigo. Park is less interested in the final outcome though and more engaged with the effects of influence of one person on another. This leads to questions over whether the main character, a police detective, is becoming emotionally compromised to the point where solving the case is not a priority for him anymore.

It’s an interesting thematic concept to play around with. It’s not so much a game of cat and mouse but more about two cats circling each other, sizing each other up and then getting dangerously close to entwining each other. In his script with Seo-kyeong Jeong, Park has emphasised that rather than tell the story of loss as something tragic, he tried to express it with subtlety, elegance and humour in a manner that speaks to adults. And indeed he does. Such is the carefully-controlled, subtle tone that runs throughout the film that favours loaded glances, carefully-spoken words and hidden yearnings that even the characters wouldn’t admit to. It’s a more sophisticated take on the murder mystery than Hollywood could manage (there would have to be several more sex scenes, more overt violence and at least one car chase for it to work in the dream factory).

The characters are so well drawn here. Hae-jun is an insomniac and a dogged detective who is often overshadowed by the women in his life. He casts a blind eye to keeping a professional distance from suspects, becoming drawn to their lives when his own lacks any real excitement. Seo-rae is a Chinese immigrant and caregiver who ends the life of one of her ill patients – does that indicate human compassion or murderous intent? She’s also an abused wife, thereby creating a motive for the apparent murder of her husband – or was it suicide? Park plays mind games with the audience as much as these two characters do with each other. While he adds in sub-plots involving the shady dealings of Seo-rae’s spouses (another one pops up later on), they’re mostly backstory details that bring latent danger. His beady focus is very much on the two leads, who under his considered direction give powerful performances that reveal more character details with each passing scene. It’s beautifully shot too, with a closing scene that is as cinematic as it gets. Decision To Leave is full of twisty thrills about the dangers of romantic obsession but with a level of filmmaking maturity that is often rare to find. Once again, Park Chan-wook is a modern master of filmmaking to be treasured.

Rating: 4 / 5

Review by Gareth O’Connor

Decision to Leave (2022) Movie Ending, Explained – What happens at the seashore?

Park Chan-wook, the celebrated Korean master behind acclaimed films like Oldboy and The Handmaiden , is back with his new film Decision to Leave (2022). For anyone acquainted with his works, one knows the stylistic flourishes the director masters in – there’s a morbid sense of pleasure at the brutal core of his works. For Decision to Leave, the director takes a squarely different approach- this is an erotic suspense thriller that revolves around a detective case but whose formal interest lies more on the characters than on the revelations. It involves an insomniac detective who gets romantically involved with the victim’s wife. Reasons mislead.

For viewers searching for an easy answer, this can be a frustrating experience. There are no easy answers, but as complex, as the central relationship gets, ‘Decision to Leave’ becomes a dizzying, existential pull to affirm the human condition. It is a whodunit that hides under its crisp, swooningly flirtatious love story. “I wanted to make a film that would tell a love story without saying the words ‘I love you,'” is how Park has described Decision to Leave, which first premiered at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year and deservedly won him the Best Director award. If you have seen the film and wondered past its glorious filmmaking to arrive at that pensive denouement- you know how it pulls its roads away from your grasp.

You are not alone if you went in for a second watch to properly sink into the sea of details that Decision to Leave hides. In the mystery genre, the writers give you the answer to the question. Not to your personal questions, but they answer the question central to the story, and it’s explained to us clearly,” Park has said. “We’re always hungry after that because our own questions are never fully answered.” The following essay dissects the world of Decision to Leave for that answer alone, so if you haven’t watched the film yet- do not go ahead. It contains major spoilers. For the others, speed ahead!

Decision to Leave (2022) Plot Summary and Movie Synopsis

Decision to Leave follows a South Korean detective named Hae-Joon (superbly played by Park Hae-il) falling for this mysterious Chinese woman named Seo-are (a terrific Tang Wei), who is the wife of the Korean man who has died after falling off a cliff. She comes in for the initial investigation, where she doesn’t show grief over the death of her husband- rather hides a small giggle when asked about it. Seo-are also notices that she has a small band-aid on her left hand. What is she hiding? As she is followed further, there are shocking clues in the play of how she is wanted for murder in China and was almost brought into Korea by her husband, who has his initials tattooed on her. Later, Hae-Joon overhears the exchange Seo-Rae has a cat to whom she says, “Bring me the heart of that kind detective.” It leaves a delicious trail between the two, which reveals itself in the smallest of gestures and triumphs in that seductive thrill of getting to know someone’s mind.

Midway, the narrative skips a few months ahead, and then another murder occurs. The same characters return, but now the tables have turned. Seo-Rae operates like a master of what Hae-Joon is capable of and becomes a magnetic force of distraction around his morals. It is also in the blink-and-will-miss territory of attention to detail, where each scene and new exchange hides and enhances a possible clue. The less you know, the better. And if you think that in this digital age of fast-paced answers, a thriller like Decision to Leave cannot sustain its secret… you are in for a treat. Simply wait for Seo-are to say these words in Chinese: “The moment you said you loved me, your love is over. The moment your love ends, my love begins.”

Decision to Leave Ending, Explained

What happens at the seashore.

Decision to Leave is a genre-twisting tale of love and deceit. At its heart, this is a love story sculpted out of the same mold as Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Decision to Leave can be broken down into three parts if we are to assimilate the breadcrumbs required to complete the test truly. The first part is the investigation part by Hae-Joon about Seo-Rae’s Korean husband, who falls from the hill. He is devastated when he finds out how she orchestrated the entire murder (the step counter on her deceased woman’s mobile shows 138 steps). He has to hide his feelings for her and tries to save her by advising her to get rid of that evidence. At this time, while Hae-Joon is speaking, Seo-are records his voice on her phone: “Don’t speak of our time that way.” she says. “What kind of time was that?” he asks. “The time I spent outside your home each night?” This entire passage marks the end of part one.

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The second part starts when Hae-Joon meets Seo-rae again after a year at the fish market at Lipo. She’s now with her second husband, Ho-shin (Park Yong-woo), who is a trade analyst. He is found stabbed in his swimming pool, and this time Seo-race is put under temporary arrest with charges. But she hasn’t committed the murder. Even as the confession is recorded of the man named Chul-sung (whose connection to Seo-rae is made in the brief interlude) who facilitated the murder, we know that Seo-Rae hasn’t committed this crime. She calls Hae-Joon at night when it snows and gives him the evidence he had told her to destroy the last crime- the phone.

The third part can be broken into the last act. The next day, Hae-Joon finds out that it is indeed Chul-sung who killed her second husband, but as a consequence of Seo-are killing Chul-sung’s mother. Here comes the twist. Seo-rae is in her car, whose location Hae-Joon tracks. On the way, he calls her to seek answers. Why? he asks. Hae-Joon reveals that she did so because she knew her husband reinvested the mother’s money and lost it. As a result, if she drugs the mother and kills her, Chul-sung will blame Ho-shin and eventually kill him. By the end, Ho-shin also finds out the recording in her phone where Hae-Joon tells her, “I love you.” It is not told in the literal sense of the term but in the fear that Seo-rae will be caught, so she must get rid of the evidence at the soonest. That gesture shows his love for her.

She stops her car on the beach and breaks off the call advising Hae-Joon to throw the phone into the sea. She digs up the sand just as the waves reach and waits inside for the water to fill. Hae-Joon reaches the spot, but by the time he is there, frantically looking out for her, she is too deep inside the water level to be alive. Decision to Leave ends with Hae-Joon listening to his own voice in the recording and still looking out for her. Her decision to kill herself was because she knew the truth would come out, and that would also mean that Hae-Joon would be pulled into the investigation for his attempt to destroy evidence. Who will it benefit? Her disappearance can be the only saving grace.

Decision to Leave (2022) propels its dense storytelling with confidence in the viewer to hold onto the smallest of details. It is near-perfect in its precision but also hides a mysterious reservoir of unexpressed emotions. Ultimately, it all depends on which matters the most for you- and I will leave you with this line from director Park Chan-wook, “I wanted to make a different movie this time. Since it’s a story of people who hide their true emotions, I wanted to make the audience become eager to approach these people, to peek into their minds, curious about what they are thinking.”

Where To Watch And Stream Park Chan-wook’s New Korean Movie ‘Decision To Leave’ Online?

Decision to leave (2022) official trailer.

Decision To Leave (2022) Movie Links: IMDb , Letterboxd

Where to watch decision to leave.

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Decision to Leave (2022) Stream and Watch Online

Watch 'decision to leave' online.

Want to watch ' Decision to Leave ' in the comfort of your own home? Hunting down a streaming service to buy, rent, download, or watch the Park Chan-wook-directed movie via subscription can be difficult, so we here at Moviefone want to do right by you. Read on for a listing of streaming and cable services - including rental, purchase, and subscription options - along with the availability of 'Decision to Leave' on each platform when they are available. Now, before we get into the fundamentals of how you can watch 'Decision to Leave' right now, here are some finer points about the Moho Film, CJ ENM romance flick. Released October 21st, 2022, 'Decision to Leave' stars Tang Wei , Park Hae-il , Lee Jung-hyun , Go Kyung-pyo The NR movie has a runtime of about 2 hr 18 min, and received a user score of 74 (out of 100) on TMDb, which compiled reviews from 1,128 respected users. Want to know what the movie's about? Here's the plot: "From a mountain peak in South Korea, a man plummets to his death. Did he jump, or was he pushed? When detective Hae-joon arrives on the scene, he begins to suspect the dead man’s wife Seo-rae. But as he digs deeper into the investigation, he finds himself trapped in a web of deception and desire." 'Decision to Leave' is currently available to rent, purchase, or stream via subscription on Amazon Video, Vudu, Apple iTunes, Mubi Amazon Channel, and Mubi .

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Decision to Leave Movie Review

Decision to Leave is director Park Chan-wook’s first romantic film, but it doesn’t fall short of mystery. The film stars Tang Wei as a woman who is suspected of murdering her husband, and Park Hae-il as the detective who is assigned to investigate her case. As the detective gets to know the woman, he begins to develop feelings for her, even though he suspects that she may be guilty.

The film is a slow-burning, atmospheric mystery that is beautifully shot and directed. Park Chan-wook creates a sense of suspense and intrigue throughout the film, and he also explores the themes of love, loss, and redemption. The performances by Tang Wei and Park Hae-il are both excellent, and they bring a lot of depth and complexity to their characters.

Decision to Leave is a film that will stay with you long after you have seen it. It is a beautifully made, thought-provoking film that will make you think about love, loss, and the nature of truth.

Here is a more detailed analysis of the film:

The plot: The film opens with a man falling to his death from a cliff. The police are called to the scene, and they quickly suspect that his wife, Seo-rae (Tang Wei), may have pushed him. Seo-rae is a mysterious woman, and she refuses to cooperate with the police. She also has a habit of disappearing for long periods of time.

The case is assigned to Detective Hae-jun (Park Hae-il), who is a widower with a young son. Hae-jun is immediately drawn to Seo-rae, and he begins to suspect that she may be innocent. However, the evidence against her is mounting, and Hae-jun is forced to question his own instincts.

As Hae-jun gets to know Seo-rae, he begins to learn more about her past. She is a widow, and she has a young son of her own. She is also a poet, and she has a deep love of nature. Hae-jun is drawn to Seo-rae’s intelligence and her beauty, and he begins to fall in love with her.

However, Hae-jun is still haunted by the possibility that Seo-rae may be guilty of murder. He is torn between his feelings for her and his duty as a detective. In the end, Hae-jun must make a decision that will change his life forever.

The characters: The characters in Decision to Leave are complex and well-developed. Seo-rae is a fascinating character who is both mysterious and alluring. She is a strong and independent woman, but she is also vulnerable and damaged. Hae-jun is a sympathetic character who is struggling to come to terms with his own grief. He is a good detective, but he is also a man who is capable of great love.
The themes: Decision to Leave explores a number of themes, including love, loss, redemption, and the nature of truth. The film is a meditation on the power of love and the difficulty of letting go of the past. It is also a reminder that even the most innocent-looking person may be capable of great evil.
The cinematography: The cinematography in Decision to Leave is stunning. The film is beautifully shot, and the use of color and light is masterful. The film’s director of photography, Kim Ji-yong, creates a visual feast that is both atmospheric and visually arresting.
The music: The music in Decision to Leave is also excellent. The film’s score, composed by Jo Yeong-wook, is haunting and atmospheric. The music perfectly complements the film’s visuals and helps to create a sense of suspense and intrigue.

Overall, Decision to Leave is a beautifully made, thought-provoking film that will stay with you long after you have seen it. It is a film that is sure to be discussed and debated for years to come.

Hye Rin Choi is an entrepreneur from Seoul, South Korea. She breathes Korean culture and history and is passionate about sharing her knowledge with others. She is committed to helping people learn more about her fascinating country.

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Two high school nobodies make the decision to crash the last major celebration before the new millennium on New Year's Eve 1999. The night becomes even crazier than they could have ever drea... Read all Two high school nobodies make the decision to crash the last major celebration before the new millennium on New Year's Eve 1999. The night becomes even crazier than they could have ever dreamed when the clock strikes midnight. Two high school nobodies make the decision to crash the last major celebration before the new millennium on New Year's Eve 1999. The night becomes even crazier than they could have ever dreamed when the clock strikes midnight.

Kyle Mooney
Evan Winter
Jaeden Martell
Rachel Zegler
Julian Dennison
16 Critic reviews
52 Metascore
1 nomination

Top cast 39

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Trivia Rachel Zegler replaced Jenna Ortega in the lead role due to scheduling conflicts.

Farkas : It's 1999. And we getting drunk!

Connections Featured in Amanda the Jedi Show: The BEST and Weirdest Movies you (mostly) Haven't Seen Yet | Love Lies Bleeding (2024)
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December 6, 2024 (United States)
New Zealand
United States
Ringwood, New Jersey, USA (Fieldstone Plaza, Skyline Drive)
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Runtime 1 hour 33 minutes
Dolby Digital
Dolby Atmos
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Dolby Surround 7.1

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Shedding the last of his Bond persona – while keeping the same taste for libations – Daniel Craig stars as Bill Lee, a hard-living junkie for all the squalid pleasures the world has to offer. He’s a writer of means, biding his time in Mexico City with enough passive income to devote full attention to more hedonistic pursuits. Short days and long nights are spent ever on the make, often alongside his trusty friend Joe (a nearly unrecognizable Jason Schwartzman, padded and furry and made out to resemble Allen Ginsberg). Only the script – once more written by “Challengers” collaborator Justin Kuritzkes – never engages with either man’s literary pursuits, reflecting a rather different set of goals.

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As in “Call Me by Your Name,” Guadagnino tries to physically express introversion, giving Craig the time and space to communicate acute and conflicting emotion in long takes that play out on his face. Unlike “Call Me by Your Name,” which raised hackles in some parts for Guadagnino’s oblique pan away once the two leads finally got going, “Queer” is comparatively less chaste, if never particularly explicit. At the same time, the filmmaker is far more interested in Lee’s immediate post-coital melancholy. Even sharing the same bed, Allerton is nearby and a universe away. If only a drug could fix that.

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Sure, Guadagnino can orchestrate a third-eye freak-out, and he even caps the extended trip with indelible wish-fulfillment, composing images that see the two men finally breaking free of their corporeal divide – and then the film keeps going, breaking from this original take on the William S. Burroughs mystique to reheat the leftover of “Naked Lunch.” The extended coda feels all the more frustrating as it builds from an ideal final scene – but maybe that’s the point. Burroughs and Guadagnino are artists of indulgence, and Lee is hardly one to throw in the towel and call it a night. The prowl is ongoing, the party never stops, and that accursed hunger will never be met.

Decision to Leave

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