The cinema of Celine Song: when life imitates art
After the release of Past Lives in 2023, many people found themselves crushed by the devastating relatability of ‘the one that got away’ and the haunting ‘what if?’ that hangs over the film. It managed to articulate the unspoken tension of being reunited with someone you once had strong feelings for, being overwhelmed by the unresolved nature of the connection and the slightly disappointing reality that the time for doing something has passed. It is an assured and intentional film, marked by deliberate slowness and a silent longing that undercuts each moment with a violent sense of forbidden pining, with Nora now married and forced to make peace with these feelings instead of acting on them.
There is confidence in the visual language and poetry of the film, which is even more impressive given that it was Celine Song’s debut feature. Song had a background in theatre, much like the central character in the film. Over the years, filmmakers have weighed in with their own opinions on the correct way to create and approach a story. However, there has been a general consensus that sometimes the most powerful stories aren’t ones that you find but instead that find you.
Directors like David Lynch and Martin Scorsese have spoken about how the creative process is almost like divine intervention, with an idea suddenly grabbing you and immediately causing you to know that you have to bring it into the world. Perhaps this is why Song’s debut feature felt wise beyond her years and experience in the medium, with the director discussing the sudden spark of inspiration that pressed her to share this story.
Before helming Past Lives, Song had a rather eclectic career, pointing towards an uncompromising artistic vision and dauntless approach towards storytelling, leading her to direct an ingenious live production of Chekhov’s The Seagull, entirely on Sims 4. Before moving towards the medium of the film, Song’s entire experience lay in theatre directing. However, perhaps the reason why Past Lives does not resemble the voice of a first-time film director is because the idea found her, reflecting some of the central ideas in the film.
Past Lives explores the Korean concept of ‘inyeon’, referring to fate and destiny and the idea that there is some ancient karmic connection that links certain people together, causing their lives to cross paths. In the case of Song, her story very much mimics that of Nora’s in the film, with the director being struck with the idea for the film after having dinner with her husband and long-lost Korean childhood friend, translating between the two of them until she realised she was “translating between two versions of herself”.
After this, Song began working on the script for the film, almost as if destiny and the concept of inyeon itself contributed towards the realisation of this heartbreaking tale by leading her to live-out experiences that would leave the idea for these characters.
Sometimes, our stories can only find us after we’ve lived them, feeling like a bizarre and slightly spiritual process as the process of self-discovery leads us to discover an ancient story that lies within us, almost as though it’s been lying dormant in a long line of souls before finally reaching us and finally finding its way into the world.
