Past Lives Review: An Achingly Bittersweet Story Of Romance And Identity

Every once in a while, an achingly romantic drama comes along with a singular vision that reminds you what the genre is capable of. "Past Lives," the directorial debut of Celine Song, offers up a melancholy tale of two would-be lovers who are — or were, at any rate — perfect together in every way except for how their lives actually turned out. Their relationship seems to have been fated from childhood, but is perpetually interrupted by barriers of distance, culture, and circumstance. With a star-making turn from Greta Lee ("Russian Doll"), "Past Lives" might just be the best romance of the 21st century.

Nora (Lee) and Hae-Sung (Teo Yoo) are childhood friends growing up together in Seoul, the two smartest kids in their class constantly in competition with one another for the top place. As the film begins, they're at the age when they're just on the cusp of becoming aware of their burgeoning crushes on each other. In another life, perhaps, they could have been childhood sweethearts who grow up to marry and live happily ever after. But Nora's family is about to move from South Korea to Canada, a massive upheaval that will effectively splinter their friendship. 

They have no contact with one another until several years later, when they reconnect over Facebook and pick up right where they left off, as if no time had passed. There are moments throughout their young adult lives when they seem on the verge of becoming more than friends, but something holds them back every time. But when they're in their 30s, Hae-Sung makes an impulsive decision to fly all the way to New York to reconnect with Nora, who is now a successful playwright in the city. Will they both finally be in the right place at the right time for each other? Or have their lives simply gone in directions too different for them to ever be together?

The greatest charm of "Past Lives" is in the chemistry between Greta Lee and Teo Yoo. They seem to be magnetically fused to one another — Nora can hardly walk across a room without Hae-Sung's eyes laser-focused on her, and vice versa. It's not always easy for actors to come across like they've known each other for a long time, but these two are capable of making us believe not just that they were childhood friends, but that their connection goes all the way back to their previous incarnations on Earth. The film luxuriates in the Korean concept of "in-yun," in which all of our relationships are built upon a foundation of thousands of interactions from past lives.

The title of the film is a reference to this — that Nora and Hae-Sung are destined to be important figures in each other's lives for the simple and beautiful reason that they always have been. But it also speaks to Nora's relationship with her identity as a Korean firmly rooted in Western culture, floating somewhere between both places. When she moves abroad as a child, she and her sister choose English names, a common practice but one that metaphorically creates distance between her life in Korea and her life in Canada. 

When she meets Hae-Sung in person for the first time as an adult, she mentions to her husband how Korean he is in his mannerisms and cultural values, and it's unclear if she finds that comforting or off-putting (and indeed, she doesn't even seem to know the answer to that question). In many ways, he represents not just a partner she could have had, but a life she could have had if she had never moved away from Seoul. It's as much reflective of the immigrant journey as it is romantic.

"Past Lives" is also refreshing in how thoughtfully it treats Arthur (John Magaro), Nora's American husband and the interloper in her fated relationship with Hae-Sung. In a different version of this film, Arthur would be the villain of the piece. In the hands of a less confident writer, he would have to be unlikeable to ensure that the audience buys into the connection between Nora and Hae-Sung. But this Arthur is nuanced and well-developed in a way that makes him accomplish the impossible: He stands up as a perfectly valid alternative to Hae-Sung. 

The comfort level that exists between Arthur and Nora, their intellectual connection, and the home they share — all of these things underscore what makes "Past Lives" so bittersweet. Hae-Sung could have been the perfect guy for Nora, but Arthur is the one she's actually built a life with. Their relationship is entirely different from the one she shares with Hae-Sung, but it is no less real or valid.

It's difficult to imagine a more self-assured directorial debut than the one we get from Celine Song in "Past Lives." She weaves a complicated story of missed moments and a great love that could have been, one that is filled with melancholy but ultimately leaves the viewer feeling emotionally satisfied by the end. Her impeccable writing skills paired with the magnetic chemistry between Greta Lee and Teo Yoo, who spark every time that they share the screen, make this film a sheer delight to watch — even as it breaks your heart.

"Past Lives" premieres in theaters on June 2 from A24.