In South Korea's large port city Busan, famous for its temples, beaches and mountains, works Detective Hae-Jun married to a nuclear power plant worker living in Ipo whom he sees, for that matter, only once a week.

Together with his colleague, the sleepless detective must deal with a new case: a retired immigration officer, Ki Do Soo, is found dead at the foot of a mountain he used to climb.

Questioning his Chinese-born wife, Seo-Rae, much younger than him, a caregiver of unimpeachable professionalism, suspicions arise that begin to haunt the detective already struggling with other unsolved cases.

The investigation proceeds apace, and an anomalous habit of attraction and distrust begins between the two.

The countless plot twists and turns to be followed closely during the screening of the enigmatic feature reveal the talent of the screenplay and direction of an evidently complex and intricate plot, which allows no room for distraction or inattention.

All this is accompanied by exquisite overhead shots, and sophisticated interference introductions of the various devices that become protagonists of the story at times.

Amid political issues, such as independence in Manchuria, Fentanyl pills, betrayal, manipulation, suicide letters, and dementia, the investigation is put on hold and the case becomes part of the disturbing list of cold cases, despite the fact that the detective has identified evidence and despite the fact that the attractive Chinese widow has discovered a personal unsuspected fragility of her own.

Something is shattered and the detective feels "annihilated"; a confession that Seo Rao cannot process.

Thirteen months later, a new encounter will finally unravel the cards of the intricate noir, with yet another murder and an unmentionable, extraordinary, surprising ending that only a great master of cinema like Park Chan wook could have packaged in this superhuman mode of formal perfection.

A sinuously tiring film: it allows no distractions, on pain of losing the thread of the thriller/drama/tragedy discourse.

The obsessive-paranoid psychology of the detective addicted to eye drops, essential to hydrate the eye, to see better or see with another gaze, reveals other mysteries to be clarified, who knows?

What is certain is that the film, seemingly cold and icy, as in the scenes of "nonexistent" pseudo-sexual intercourse between Hae-Jun and his wife once a week, nevertheless reveals the uncontrollable fragility of an unexpressed but overwhelming passion.

A first part unrequited, a second part, after the "annihilation" event, irreparable.

Seo-Rao, more or less a murderer, is utterly unprepared to face her own absolution, much less her own sentimental relenting: a woman tried by life, circumstances and her choices finds herself having to walk through the final decision, human or inhuman.

Park Chan wook here only touches on the theme of revenge to which he dedicated his very famous trilogy, while he does not hesitate to chase, through tireless investigation, the reference to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and the cruel human fate of impossible love.

The metaphor of inquiry that becomes a quest and representation of Amor che nullo amato amar perdona.

23-Jun-2023 by Beatrice