When a man inexplicably falls to his death from a mountain he regularly climbs, seasoned detective Hae-joon (Park Hae-il) and his partner are called upon to investigate the cause of death. They interview the victim’s wife, Seo-rae (Tang Wei), a Chinese immigrant who is decades younger than her late husband. With her demeanour and circumstances raising suspicion, Hae-joon decides to conduct more interviews and tracks her every move. Despite Seo-rae seeming increasingly culpable for the crime as the investigation goes on, Hae-joon cannot stop himself from falling for her. Though the femme fatale element will invite comparison to Alfred Hitchcock—one of Park Chan-wook’s favourite directors—the gorgeous cinematography, unsettling editing, and dizzying plot twists come together swimmingly as the result of Park’s singular vision.

After the screening on 9 December, Park Chan-wook will be in conversation with Sangjoon Lee, associate professor of the Digital Arts and Creative Industries at Lingnan University, to discuss the filmmaker’s career in parallel with the rise of South Korean cinema in the early 2000s. The talk will be held in Korean. Simultaneous interpretation in English and consecutive interpretation in Cantonese will be available.

Park Chan-wook (b. 1963, South Korea) studied philosophy at Sogang University in the 1980s. After working as a film critic for many years, Park made his directorial debut with The Moon Is... the Sun's Dream (1992), followed by Trio (1997). His political thriller Joint Security Area (2000) received rave reviews and became the high-grossing film in South Korea at the time. Park then directed Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2001), the first of his ‘Vengeance Trilogy’, followed by Oldboy (2003), which was awarded the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, and Lady Vengeance (2005). After the intense trio, Park directed the offbeat romantic comedy I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK (2005). In 2009, he subverted expectations with the genre-bending vampire film Thirst. Park made his American debut with Stoker in 2013. Meanwhile, his streak at Cannes continued with The Handmaiden (2016) and Decision to Leave (2022), for which he was awarded Best Director.