Return to Seoul

A film set in South Korea about a woman who comes from France. Freddie is twenty-five. She grew up in France, was given up for adoption as a baby and is in Korea for the first time. Even her reason for coming is unclear; a holiday plan fell through and she found herself in Seoul. A friend reminds her of the adoption agency. Freddie goes. Through the agency a letter is sent to her birth family; the mother does not reply, the father does. The meeting with the father is the hardest part of the film. He is full of regret, emotional, and wants to take her in at once. Freddie feels nothing, and for not matching the expectation she is declared guilty. The narrative spreads over eight years. Freddie comes back every few years and is someone else each time: her hair, her work, the people around her and her manner all change. The narrative does not explain the changes. What the film is interested in is not a story of return to origins but that everyone expects that story of her, and that she refuses to play the part. Park Ji-min plays Freddie; she is not an actor but a visual artist and this is her first film. Davy Chou directed. It was shown in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes. A strong production for anyone who likes contemporary films built on identity. For a viewer expecting an emotional reunion, the film does the opposite.