Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Possible Love review says that director Lee Chang-dong’s latest work is a masterpiece, with subtle images speaking louder than words.

It takes an extraordinary filmmaker to craft every one of a film’s 164 minutes feel absolutely necessary. Not in an OMG-what’s-gonna-happen-next-train-wreck-who-dun-it? sort of way, but with a subtle hand that makes you want to sit with your imperfect partner under its shimmering, silvery moon just a few minutes longer.

Korea’s Lee Chang-dong has just that sort of skilled hand, artfully guiding us toward introspection and intrigue, without the artifacts of garish stunts, frantic car chases, excruciating violence or dizzying plot twists.

It’s basically the moving story of two couples, one upper class, one working class, trying to level the playing field and understand and appreciate, perhaps even bond with, each other and their partners, in the face of great socioeconomic upheaval.

That’s the extreme bare bones rundown, like saying this meal consists of one protein and two sides. In reality it’s a vast cinematic banquet, exploring universal themes and emotions with rich texture and nuanced finesse.

In an exclusive press conference I attended, Lee was candid about what inspired him to make Possible Love. “Originally, over 10 years ago, there was a Korean conglomerate that went through a mass layoff of its workers,” he said. “It was met by an all-or-nothing strike on the laborers. That was then met with a cruel crackdown by the authorities. And that left a very severe aftereffect on the Korean society. I felt compelled to make a film about it.”

I felt compelled to look up the details behind that fateful event. Lee seems to be pointing to the 2009 Ssangyong Motor strike. The carmaker’s Pyeongtaek plant went into court receivership in January 2009, and in April management announced 2,646 layoffs, roughly 36 percent of its workforce.

Workers occupied the plant on May 22 and held it for 77 days. The standoff ended in early August, when police stormed the facility, partly from helicopters. Afterward, hundreds of workers were put on unpaid leave under a promise of reinstatement within a year, and the company later filed damage claims against strikers.

Reporting in 2012 counted 22 workers and family members dead by suicide or stress-related illness. Lee told us the toll was higher: “at the time, the aftereffects were so severe that over 30 people, both including the family members and the ones that had actually been laid off by the company, they tragically took their own lives.” Whatever the exact count, the human cost was staggering, and Lee felt it shouldn’t be forgotten.

Possible Love Review — A dramatization of the aftermath

So with the perspective that comes from time and distance, Lee wrote a screenplay about Mi-ok (Jeon Do-yeon) who lives quietly with her laid-off, uncommunicative husband Ho-seok (Sul Kyung-gu) and their young son Cheol. Ho-seok, once a proud welder, is a shell of himself.

At a funeral, they meet Ye-ji (Cho Yeo-jeong), affluent documentary filmmaker chronicling laid-off workers, and her husband Sang-woo (Zo In-sung). Ye-ji feels that Mi-ok and Ho-seok would be ideal interviews for her doc.

Mi-ok agrees to be filmed and grows close to Ye-ji. She also finds herself uneasily drawn to the unreadable Sang-woo, as the couples start to socialize. Both couples try to bridge the gap between them, but the differences keep cracking the surface.

When the two families retreat together to the wealthy couple’s beachfront villa to get acquainted and record more interviews. The cracks become chasms, and what they discover about each other, and themselves, is both ugly and beautiful. Lee intentionally leaves much to the viewers’ own interpretation.

The dialogue is reserved, but the memorable images speak volumes. An empty snack bag released by the child from a car window fill with air and floats to freedom, until it falls to the ground on a busy highway and becomes trash. The rainbow that appears in the spray of a garden hose takes on unique significance in the eye of the beholder.

Lee has always valued quality above quantity, so that each of his films are an event. He gave us Oasis (Best Director, Venice), Poetry (Best Screenplay, Cannes), and Burning (Vulcan Award and FIPRESCI Prize, Cannes). Now, after eight long years, Possible Love has already added a Silver Lion to the shelf, and it arrived in Venice to a standing ovation of about six minutes. As of this writing, it has a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The film opens with a title card, “Thou shalt not covet,” but it’s something much richer than a morality tale. It’s a tender, humane study of class, desire, and the ethics of pointing a camera at someone else’s pain. When does empathy become exploitation? Lee asks, and lets us squirm.

He also asked us to interpret the title, as well as the entire film, through the lens of our own perspective. Possible Love, to me indicated the potential for love to grow between the classes, friends and spouses. Whether or not it does for these characters is left up to us to decide.

Canine Critic Rocky’s Possible Love review

4 out of 5 treats

Rocky here! As great as the actors are and as profound as themes may be, my favorite character and subplot was of course, involved the dog. He seemed to be the wealthy couple’s stand-in for a human child, as they had none, and he went everywhere with Ye-ji (the wife). It seemed that the working class couple felt they had at least a smidgeon of superiority over the others—at least they had a human son.

Believe it or not, I understand—the working class couple needed something, and this was a clever way of expressing that. At least that’s how I interpreted it, and Director Lee gave me full permission to do that. Full permission to do anything in my circles is something to bark about.

My prediction is that it will show up on every awards organizations’ list of Best In Show contenders for the year. I know it’s on my Mom’s list.

Rated R

2 Hours 44 Minutes

If this Possible Love review encourages you to spend a lovely evening taking in a simple yet profound work of art, get times and tickets at Fandango.com.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Possible Love review says that director Lee Chang-dong’s latest work is a masterpiece, with subtle images speaking louder than words.