ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT ALONE

Korea, 2017, 101 minutes, Colour.
Kim Min-hee.
Directed by Hong Sang-soo.

The director is always interested in relationships, power, sexuality (Woman is the future of man, Haewon). This is a contemporary film.

The first part of the film is set in Germany, in Hamburg, an actress is visiting and staying with a friend. For 30 minutes, the film is really conversation between the two women, revealing the past of the actress and her relationship with the director and her deciding to leave Korea and visit Germany, the other woman being older, a good friend, who prefers to live alone. There are comparatively few Germans to be seen, but the older woman sees an agent about renting an apartment, they go to a music store where they meet a friendly composer and buy his book of music, and are hosted by a German couple at a meal.

The second part of the film is longer, set in Korea. The actress has returned to Korea and is meeting with friends. Once again, the film is primarily conversation, but it is conversation generally in groups. The actress finds a friend who is now working in a restaurant, reminiscing about the past, making some advances, but he is committed to his work and to the woman who runs the restaurant. There are other conversations, involving older friends.

There is a lot of smoking and drinking, and the actress swings in her moods, sometimes being sensible, other times flirtatious and challenging. She plays with the idea of living with another woman, kissing her friend.

However, the conversation simply rouses the past for the actress and she goes to walk on the beach, lying down and going to sleep. She is awakened and invited over to join film technicians who are scouting locations. She is at home with them – and invited to a meal where the director with whom she had a previous relationship is present. They talk, he gives her a gift of a book after reading a passage about relationships, but she has been drinking and is stirred up to talk to the director, to remember the past, to criticise him, to judge him.

And then, she is lying on the beach again – woken up and she realises that she has been dreaming. It is what might have happened – and what might happen.